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Old Testament Reading - The birth of Moses

^1-2There were at this time a Hebrew fellow and girl of the tribe of Levi who married and had a family, and a baby son was born to them. When the baby’s mother saw that he was an unusually beautiful baby, she hid him at home for three months. ³Then, when she could no longer hide him, she made a little boat from papyrus reeds, waterproofed it with tar, put the baby in it, and laid it among the reeds along the river’s edge. ⁴The baby’s sister watched from a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵Well, this is what happened: A princess, one of Pharaoh’s daughters, came down to bathe in the river, and as she and her maids were walking along the riverbank, she spied the little boat among the reeds and sent one of the maids to bring it to her. ⁶When she opened it, there was a baby! And he was crying. This touched her heart. “He must be one of the Hebrew children!” she said.

⁷Then the baby’s sister approached the princess and asked her, “Shall I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

⁸“Yes, do!” the princess replied. So the little girl rushed home and called her mother!

⁹“Take this child home and nurse him for me,” the princess instructed the baby’s mother, “and I will pay you well!” So she took him home and nursed him.

¹⁰Later, when he was older, she brought him back to the princess and he became her son. She named him Moses (meaning “to draw out”^a) because she had drawn him out of the water.

1. The name Moses sounds like another Hebrew word meaning “to draw out.”