The Birth and Adoption of Moses (Acts 7:20–22; Hebrews 11:23)
1 UST Now there was a man who was a descendant of Jacob’ s son Levi. He married a woman who was also a descendant of Levi. BSB BSB: Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman,
2 UST She became pregnant and had a baby boy. When she saw that he was a healthy baby, she{ wanted to keep him alive, so she} hid him for three months. BSB BSB: and she conceived and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months.
3 UST When she was unable to hide him any longer, she got a basket made from tall reeds. She covered the basket with tar{ so it would float in water}. Then she put the baby in the basket and put the basket in the water. It was at the edge of the Nile River, in the middle of the tall reeds. BSB BSB: But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
4 UST His{ older} sister hid nearby so she could find out what would happen to him. BSB BSB: And his sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5 UST Soon the king’ s daughter went down to the river to take a bath. Her female servants walked along the riverbank. She saw the basket in the tall reeds in the river, so she sent one of her servants to get it.{ When the servant brought it back,} the king’ s daughter took it from her BSB BSB: Soon the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the Nile, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. And when she saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maidservant to retrieve it.
6 UST and she opened it and was surprised to see a baby inside that was crying. She pitied him and said,“This must be a Hebrew baby.” BSB BSB: When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the little boy was crying. So she had compassion on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew children.”
7 UST Then the baby’ s{ older} sister{ walked up} to the king’ s daughter and said,“Do you want me to go and find a Hebrew woman who will be able to nurse the baby for you?” BSB BSB: Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”
8 UST The king’ s daughter said to her,“Yes, go and find one.” So the girl went and found the baby’ s mother{ and brought her to the king’ s daughter}. BSB BSB: “Go ahead,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. And the girl went and called the boy’s mother.
9 UST The king’ s daughter said to the mother,“Please take this baby and nurse him for me. I will pay you for doing that.” So the baby’ s mother{ agreed,} took him, and nursed him. BSB BSB: Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him.
10 UST When he had gotten bigger, his mother brought the boy to the king’ s daughter. She adopted him and said,“I pulled him out of the water, so I will call him Moses.” BSB BSB: When the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses and explained, “I drew him out of the water.”
The Rejection and Flight of Moses (Acts 7:23–29)
11 UST One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out{ of the palace area} to see the hard work his people had to do. He also saw an Egyptian beating one of his people, the Hebrews. BSB BSB: One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.
12 UST He looked around{ to see if anyone was watching}. Seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian man and buried his body in the sand. BSB BSB: After looking this way and that and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.
13 UST The next day he was out again. He was surprised to see two Hebrew men fighting each other. He said to the man who started the fight,“Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” BSB BSB: The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your companion?”
14 UST The man replied,“No one put you in charge of judging us! Do not think you{ will get away with} killing me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday!” Then Moses was afraid, because he thought,“Everyone knows what I did.” BSB BSB: But the man replied, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “This thing I have done has surely become known.”
15 UST When the king heard that Moses killed an Egyptian, he ordered{ his soldiers} to kill Moses. But Moses ran away from the king{ and left Egypt. He traveled east} to the region of Midian and started to live there.{ One day as} Moses was sitting beside a well, BSB BSB: When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, where he sat down beside a well.
16 UST seven women came to the well. They were all the daughters of the man who was the priest for the Midianites. They got water and filled the troughs in order to give water to their father’ s sheep and goats. BSB BSB: Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock.
17 UST Some shepherds came and{ started to} chase them away. But Moses got up and rescued them and helped their sheep and goats to drink. BSB BSB: And when some shepherds came along and drove them away, Moses rose up to help them and watered their flock.
18 UST When his daughters returned{ home}, their father{ Jethro}({ who people also called} Reuel) asked them,“How did you get back{ from taking care of the sheep} so quickly today?” BSB BSB: When the daughters returned to their father Reuel, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”
19 UST They replied,“A man from Egypt kept the other shepherds from chasing us away. He also got water for us from the well and gave water to the sheep.” BSB BSB: “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds,” they replied. “He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
20 UST He said to his daughters,“By leaving him at the well, you did not show this man that we welcome strangers or even repay his kind act. Invite him in so that he can have something to eat!”{ So they did, and Moses ate with them.} BSB BSB: “So where is he?” their father asked. “Why did you leave the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat.”
21 UST Jethro{ invited Moses} to stay with his family and Moses accepted{ his offer}. Jethro gave Moses his daughter Zipporah{ to be his wife}. BSB BSB: Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.
22 UST When she gave birth to{ their first} son, Moses said,“I am a foreigner living in a place foreign to me, so I will name him Gershom.” BSB BSB: And she gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
God Hears the Cry of the Israelites 23 UST Many years went by. During that time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites in Egypt were still groaning because of the hard work they had to do as slaves. They cried to God in heaven because of the work. BSB BSB: After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
24 UST When he heard them groaning, he thought about his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. BSB BSB: So God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
25 UST God saw{ how the} Israelites{ were being badly treated}, and he comprehended. BSB BSB: God saw the Israelites and took notice.