Passage

Exodus 2.8

Book: Exodus · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

6. And she opened it, and saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. 7. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

8. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maiden went and called the child's mother.

And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. 10. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and said, Because I drew him out of the water. (Exodus 2:6-10, ASV)

WEB

6. She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”

8. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” The maiden went and called the child’s mother.

Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” The woman took the child, and nursed it. 10. The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.” (Exodus 2:6-10, WEB)

KJV

6. And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. 7. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

8. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother.

And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. 10. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water. ^{Moses: that is, Drawn out} (Exodus 2:6-10, KJV)

YLT

6. and openeth, and seeth him, the lad, and lo, a child weeping! and she hath pity on him, and saith, 'This is [one] of the Hebrews' children.' 7. And his sister saith unto the daughter of Pharaoh, 'Do I go? when I have called for thee a suckling woman of the Hebrews, then she doth suckle the lad for thee;'

8. and the daughter of Pharaoh saith to her, 'Go;' and the virgin goeth, and calleth the mother of the lad,

and the daughter of Pharaoh saith to her, 'Take this lad away, and suckle him for me, and I, I give thy hire;' and the woman taketh the lad, and suckleth him. 10. And the lad groweth, and she bringeth him in to the daughter of Pharaoh, and he is to her for a son, and she calleth his name Moses, and saith, 'Because, from the water I have drawn him.' (Exodus 2:6-10, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the narrator of Exodus
Audience: Israel
Location: the Nile, near Pharaoh's palace
Time period: the exodus generation; the date is disputed between a fifteenth- and a thirteenth-century BC exodus

Theological reading

Pharaoh's daughter tells Miriam to go, and the girl fetches the child's own mother to nurse him.

The verse is the hinge of an ironic sequence that the narrative plays without comment. Pharaoh has ordered every Hebrew boy thrown into the Nile; his own daughter draws one out of it, names him, and pays his mother wages to nurse him. The empire's policy is defeated by the household of the man who made it, using the river he chose as the instrument.

Note who acts. Every named agent in chapters 1 and 2 is a woman: the midwives Shiphrah and Puah who refuse the order and lie about it, Moses's mother, his sister, and Pharaoh's daughter. The deliverer's survival is arranged entirely by women, two of whom are Egyptian.

The sister is unnamed here and identified as Miriam later, and her intervention is the only line she speaks in the chapter.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

H5959 - almah, almah, Strong's H5959

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Lexicon:

H5959 - almah

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.