Exodus 2

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¹Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. ✦ ²And the woman conceived and gave birth to a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. ✦ ³But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and covered it with tar and pitch. Then she put the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. ✦ ⁴And his sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him. ✦ ⁵Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her female attendants walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave woman, and she brought it to her. ✦ ⁶When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” ✦ ⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a woman for you who is nursing from the Hebrew women, so that she may nurse the child for you?” ✦ ⁸Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go ahead.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. ✦ ⁹Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. ¹⁰And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.” ✦ ¹¹Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his fellow Hebrews and looked at their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his fellow Hebrews. ✦ ¹²So he looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no one around, he struck and killed the Egyptian, and hid his body in the sand. ✦ ¹³Now he went out the next day, and behold, two Hebrews were fighting with each other; and he said to the offender, “Why are you striking your companion?” ✦ ¹⁴But he said, “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and said, “Surely the matter has become known!” ✦ ¹⁵When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well. ✦ ¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. ✦ ¹⁷Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. ✦ ¹⁸When they came to their father Reuel, he said, “Why have you come back so soon today?” ✦ ¹⁹They said, “An Egyptian saved us from the shepherds, and what is more, he even drew water for us and watered the flock.” ✦ ²⁰So he said to his daughters, “Where is he then? Why is it that you have left the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat.” ✦ ²¹And Moses was willing to live with the man. And he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses. ✦ ²²Then she gave birth to a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.” ✦ ²³Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage ascended to God. ✦ ²⁴So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ✦ ²⁵And God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

Acts 7 ·13 Heb 11 ·6 Exod 3 ·5 Exod 4 ·5 Gen 29 ·5 Gen 24 ·4 Exod 2 ·4 Exod 1 ·3

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereDocumentaryExpedition BibleJoel Kramer · Free · evangelical
On-location biblical archaeology from a credentialed archaeologist (M.A., excavated in Israel) — the best free place to start on "did it really happen?"
★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
VideoSpoken GospelSpoken Gospel · Free · evangelical
Short, gospel-centered videos and spoken-word poems showing how each passage points to Jesus — especially strong on the Old Testament.
DocumentaryPatterns of Evidence: The ExodusTim Mahoney · Paid · evangelical
Investigates the archaeological evidence for the Exodus. Note: it advances a minority biblical chronology that mainstream scholars dispute — engaging, but weigh its conclusions critically.

Pastoral

★ Start hereCommentaryExodus (New American Commentary)Douglas K. Stuart · Paid · evangelical
The best evangelical, semi-technical commentary on Exodus — accessible to pastors and serious students.
DocumentaryThat the World May KnowRay Vander Laan · Paid · evangelical
Ray Vander Laan's on-location series immersing you in the Bible's historical and cultural world. (Mostly paid via Focus on the Family; some free clips.)
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Exodus videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Exodus 2YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Exodus 2David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on ExodusMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Exodus 2Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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