¹⁰ When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, with the explanation, “Because I drew him up out of the water.”^[a]

Moses Flees to Midian

¹¹ After some time, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹² After he looked this way and that, and he saw that no one was there, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

¹³ The next day when he went out, he came upon two Hebrew men who were fighting. He said to the one in the wrong, “Why were you striking your fellow Hebrew?”

¹⁴ The man said, “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Are you planning to kill me just as you killed the Egyptian?”

Moses was afraid and thought, “What I have done has definitely become known.” ¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard what Moses had done, he sought to kill Moses. Moses, however, fled from Pharaoh’s presence and went to live in the land of Midian. There he sat down by a well.

¹⁶ Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and started drawing water. They filled the troughs to water their father’s flock, ¹⁷ but some shepherds came and drove them away. Moses, however, stood up and helped them. He then watered their flock. ¹⁸ When the daughters came to Reuel, their father, he said, “Why have you returned so early today?”

¹⁹ They said, “An Egyptian man rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰ Reuel said to his daughters, “Where is he? Why have you left the man there? Invite him to have something to eat.”

²¹ Moses agreed to stay with the man. The man gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses as a wife.

Stephen Defends Himself

²⁰ “At that time, Moses was born, and he was favored by God. For three months he was cared for in his father’s house. ²¹ After he was placed outside,^[a] Pharaoh’s daughter took him in and brought him up as her own son. ²² Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in his words and actions.

²³ “But when he was forty years old, it entered his mind to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. ²⁴ When he saw one of them being mistreated, he defended him and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵ He thought that his brothers would understand that God was giving them deliverance by his hand, but they did not understand. ²⁶ The next day, he came across two of them while they were fighting, and he tried to reconcile them. He said, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you harming each other?’ ²⁷ But the one who was harming his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸ Do you want to kill me the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’^{[b] 29} At this remark, Moses fled and lived as an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “After forty years had passed, an angel of the Lord^[c] appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flames of a burning bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went closer to look, the voice of the Lord said, ³² ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of^[d] Jacob.’^[e] Moses trembled and did not dare to look. ³³ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴ I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning. I have come down to rescue them. Now come, I will send you to Egypt.’^[f]

³⁵ “This is the same Moses they had rejected by saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ This is the one whom God sent to be a ruler and deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ This is the one who led the people out, as he performed wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷ This is the Moses who said to the people of Israel, ‘God^[g] will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’^{[h] 38} This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our fathers. He received living messages to give to us,

²⁴ By faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter when he grew up.

²⁵ He chose to be mistreated with God’s people rather than enjoy sin for a little while.