Exodus 1:22-2:10

New International Version

²² Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile,^(A) but let every girl live.”^(B)

The Birth of Moses

2 Now a man of the tribe of Levi^(C) married a Levite woman,^{(D) 2} and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine^(E) child, she hid him for three months.^{(F) 3} But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus^(G) basket^[a] for him and coated it with tar and pitch.^(H) Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds^(I) along the bank of the Nile. ⁴ His sister^(J) stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵ Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank.^(K) She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. ⁶ She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

⁷ Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

⁸ “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. ⁹ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named^(L) him Moses,^[b] saying, “I drew^(M) him out of the water.”