Exodus 2:3

1 Now a man of the house of Levi married a daughter of Levi,

2 and she conceived and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months.

But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

4 And his sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

5 Soon the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the Nile, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. And when she saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maidservant to retrieve it.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB
But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
KJV
And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.
WEB
When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank.
ASV
And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch; and she put the child therein, and laid it in the flags by the river`s brink.
DARBY
And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of reeds, and plastered it with resin and with pitch, and put the child in it, and laid [it] in the sedge on the bank of the river.
BLB
And she was not able to hid him anymore, and she took for him an ark of papyrus and daubed it with tar and with pitch, and she put the child in it and she placed it in the reeds along the edge of the River.
ÅB
Men da hun ikke lenger kunne skjule ham, tok hun en kiste til ham av rør og smurte den over med jordbek og tjære, og hun la gutten i den og satte den i sivet ved elvebredden.
OTB
Da hun ikke kunne skjule ham lenger, tok hun en papyruskiste, smurte den med tjære og bek, la barnet i den, og satte den blant sivet ved Nilens bredd.
B1930
Men da hun ikke lenger kunne skjule ham, tok hun en kiste til ham av rør og smurte den over med jordbek og tjære, og hun la gutten i den og satte den i sivet ved elvebredden.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Exodus 1:22

    Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”

    Read in context
  • Acts 7:19

    He exploited our people and oppressed our fathers, forcing them to abandon their infants so they would die.

    Read in context
  • Genesis 6:14

    Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark and coat it with pitch inside and out.

    Read in context
  • Isaiah 18:2

    which sends couriers by sea, in papyrus vessels on the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people widely feared, to a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.

    Read in context
  • Matthew 2:16

    When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.

    Read in context
  • Matthew 2:13

    When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”

    Read in context
  • Genesis 11:3

    And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.

    Read in context
  • Isaiah 19:6

    The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up; the reeds and rushes will wither.

    Read in context