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Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.
Exodus 2:21 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
  • BSB Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.
  • ESV And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.
  • NKJV Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.
  • NASB And Moses was willing to live with the man. And he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses.
  • NLT Moses accepted the invitation, and he settled there with him. In time, Reuel gave Moses his daughter Zipporah to be his wife.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Moses agrees to stay, and Reuel gives him his daughter Zipporah as wife. Moses establishes a home in Midian.

Overview

Marriage and settled life mark the start of Moses' long sojourn away from Egypt. These quiet years form part of God's hidden preparation of His chosen leader. Far from the palace, the future deliverer learns the wilderness through which he will one day lead Israel.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 10

  • Gen 31:38–40“These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven’t eaten the rams of your flocks.
  • Heb 13:5Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”
  • Exod 4:20–25Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God’s rod in his hand.
  • 1 Tim 6:6But godliness with contentment is great gain.
  • Exod 2:10The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
  • Phil 4:11–12Not that I speak in respect to lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it.
  • Exod 18:2–6Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, received Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her away,
  • Jas 1:10and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away.
  • Heb 11:25choosing rather to share ill treatment with God’s people, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time;
  • Num 12:1Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Exodus videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Exodus 2:21YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ExodusMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.

How Exodus 2:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.