Drawn Out of the Water

A man and woman from the tribe of Levi had a son. She saw he was a fine child and hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she made a basket of papyrus, coated it with tar and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river. His sister stood far off to see what would happen.

Pharaoh's daughter came to bathe at the river. She saw the basket, opened it, and the baby cried. She had compassion on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. His sister offered to find a Hebrew nurse, and she called the child's mother. When the child grew, he became the princess's son. She named him Moses, because I drew him out of the water.

When Moses was grown, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When Pharaoh heard, he tried to kill Moses, so Moses fled to Midian. There he helped seven daughters at a well, and their father, Reuel, gave him his daughter Zipporah as his wife. In Egypt the king died, and Israel groaned in slavery. God heard their groaning and remembered His covenant.