A man from the house of Levi took a Levite woman as his wife, and she bore a son. Seeing that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. When she could no longer conceal him, she made a basket of papyrus, coated it with tar and pitch, placed the child inside, and set it among the reeds along the Nile. His sister, Miriam watched from a distance to see what would happen to him.
Then Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe in the river, and her attendants walked along the bank. She noticed the basket, sent her maid to fetch it, and when she opened it, she saw the crying baby. She was moved with compassion. "This is one of the Hebrew children," she said.
At that moment, the child's sister who had been watching her brother, stepped forward and asked, "Shall I go and find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for you?" Pharaoh's daughter agreed, and the girl brought the child's own mother.
"Take this child and nurse him for me," said Pharaoh's daughter, "and I will pay you." So the woman took her son and cared for him. When he was grown, she brought him back, and he became the son of Pharaoh's daughter. She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."
Years later, when Moses had grown, he went out among his people and saw their burdens. He witnessed an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own kin. Looking around and seeing no one, Moses struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
The next day he saw two Hebrews quarreling. He said to the one in the wrong, "Why are you striking your fellow Hebrew?" But the man replied, "Who made you ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" Fear filled Moses, for the matter had become known.
When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses, but Moses fled and escaped to Midian. There he sat by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water and fill the troughs for their father's flock, but shepherds drove them away. Moses rose to their defense, watered their flock, and helped them.
When they returned home, their father Reuel also known as Jethro, asked, "Why have you come back so soon today?" They answered, "An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds, and even drew water for us." Reuel said, "And where is he? Why did you leave him? Invite him to eat with us."
Moses agreed to stay, and Reuel gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage. She bore him a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, "I have been a stranger in a foreign land."
In those days the king of Egypt died, but the Israelites groaned under slavery. Their cry for deliverance rose up to God, and He heard them. God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looked upon the Israelites and His concern was stirred for them.