Exodus 2:15

Bible in Basic English

Now when Pharaoh had news of this, he would have put Moses to death. But Moses went in flight from Pharaoh into the land of Midian: and he took his seat by a water-spring.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Now when Par`oh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moshe. But Moshe fled from the face of Par`oh, and lived in the land of Midyan, and he sat down by a well.

King James Version
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

Lexham English Bible
And Pharaoh heard this matter, and he sought to kill Moses, and Moses fled from Pharaoh, and he lived in the land of Midian, and he lived at a certain well.

New Century Version
When the king heard what Moses had done, he tried to kill him. But Moses ran away from the king and went to live in the land of Midian. There he sat down near a well.

New English Translation
When Pharaoh heard about this event, he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he settled by a certain well.

Amplified Bible
When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he tried to kill Moses. Then Moses fled from Pharaoh's presence and took refuge in the land of Midian, where he sat down by a well.

New American Standard Bible
When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Now Pharaoh heard this matter, & sought to slay Moses: therefore Moses fled from Pharaoh, and dwelt in the lande of Midian, and hee sate downe by a well.

Legacy Standard Bible
And Pharaoh heard of this matter, so he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

Contemporary English Version
When the king heard what Moses had done, the king wanted to kill him. But Moses escaped and went to the land of Midian. One day, Moses was sitting there by a well,

Complete Jewish Bible
When Pharaoh heard of it, he tried to have Moshe put to death. But Moshe fled from Pharaoh to live in the land of Midyan. One day, as he was sitting by a well,

Darby Translation
And Pharaoh heard of this matter, and sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from before Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat by the well.

Easy-to-Read Version
Pharaoh heard about what Moses did, so he decided to kill him. But Moses ran away from Pharaoh and went to the land of Midian. Moses stopped near a well in Midian.

English Standard Version
When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.

George Lamsa Translation
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh, and went to the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.

Good News Translation
When the king heard about what had happened, he tried to have Moses killed, but Moses fled and went to live in the land of Midian. One day, when Moses was sitting by a well, seven daughters of Jethro, the priest of Midian, came to draw water and fill the troughs for their father's sheep and goats.

Christian Standard Bible®
When Pharaoh heard about this, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well.

Literal Translation
And Pharaoh heard this word, and he sought to kill Moses. And Moses fled from before Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian. And he sat down by the well.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And Pharao herde of it, and sought for Moses, to slaye him. But Moses fled from Pharao, and kepte him in the lande of Madian, and sat him downe by a wells syde.

American Standard Version
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Pharao heard of it, and went about to slaye Moyses. And Moyses fleyng from the face of Pharao, dwelt in the lande of Madian: and he sate downe by the welles syde.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.

King James Version (1611)
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sate downe by a well.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Pharao heard this matter, and sought to slay Moses; and Moses departed from the presence of Pharao, and dwelt in the land of Madiam; and having come into the land of Madiam, he sat on the well.

English Revised Version
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

Berean Standard Bible
When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, where he sat down beside a well.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Farao herde this word, and souyte to sle Moyses, which fledde fro his siyt, and dwellide in the lond of Madian, and sat bisidis a pit.

Young's Literal Translation
And Pharaoh heareth of this thing, and seeketh to slay Moses, and Moses fleeth from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelleth in the land of Midian, and dwelleth by the well.

Update Bible Version
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and he settled in the land of Midian after having moved to the land of Midian. And [one day] he sat down by a well.

Webster's Bible Translation
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

World English Bible
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

New King James Version
When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.

New Living Translation
And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian. When Moses arrived in Midian, he sat down beside a well.

New Life Bible
When Pharaoh heard what had happened, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses ran away from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. He sat down there by a well.

New Revised Standard
When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh. He settled in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So Pharaoh heard this thing, and sought to slay Moses, - and Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian and sat down by the well.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Pharao heard of this word, and sought to kill Moses: but he fled from his sight, and abode in the land of Madian, and he sat down by a well.

Revised Standard Version
When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh, and stayed in the land of Mid'ian; and he sat down by a well.

THE MESSAGE
Pharaoh heard about it and tried to kill Moses, but Moses got away to the land of Midian. He sat down by a well.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

Contextual Overview

¹¹ Now when Moses had become a man, one day he went out to his people and saw how hard their work was; and he saw an Egyptian giving blows to a Hebrew, one of his people. ¹² And turning this way and that, and seeing no one, he put the Egyptian to death, covering his body with sand. ¹³ And he went out the day after and saw two of the Hebrews fighting: and he said to him who was in the wrong, Why are you fighting your brother? ¹⁴ And he said, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? are you going to put me to death as you did the Egyptian? And Moses was in fear, and said, It is clear that the thing has come to light. ¹⁵ Now when Pharaoh had news of this, he would have put Moses to death. But Moses went in flight from Pharaoh into the land of Midian: and he took his seat by a water-spring.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

fled: Exodus 4:19, Genesis 28:6, Genesis 28:7, 1 Kings 19:1-3, 1 Kings 19:13, 1 Kings 19:14, Proverbs 22:3, Jeremiah 26:21-23, Matthew 10:23, Acts 7:29, Hebrews 11:27

Midian: Genesis 25:2, Genesis 25:4

sat down: Genesis 24:11, Genesis 29:2, John 4:6

Reciprocal: Genesis 12:15 - princes Genesis 16:6 - fled Genesis 21:25 - reproved Genesis 29:9 - Rachel Genesis 35:1 - when thou Exodus 18:4 - delivered 1 Kings 11:18 - Midian 1 Kings 19:3 - he arose 1 Chronicles 1:32 - Midian

Cross-References

Genesis 2:2
And on the seventh day God came to the end of all his work; and on the seventh day he took his rest from all the work which he had done.

Genesis 2:8
And the Lord God made a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had made.

Job 31:33
If I kept my evil doings covered, and my sin in the secret of my breast,

Psalms 128:2
You will have the fruit of the work of your hands: happy will you be, and all will be well for you.

Ephesians 4:28
Let him who was a thief be so no longer, but let him do good work with his hands, so that he may have something to give to him who is in need.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses,.... Both for his killing the Egyptian, which by the laws of Egypt i was death, whether bond or free; and for his taking part with the Hebrews against the Egyptians, and knowing him to be a wise and valiant man, might fear he would put himself at the head of the Hebrews, and cause a revolt of them; and if there was anything in his dream, or if he had such an one, and had the interpretation of it given by his magicians, that an Hebrew child should be born, by whom Egypt would be destroyed, :-, he might call it to mind, and be affected with it, and fear the time was coming on, and Moses was the person by whom it should be done; and he might be stirred up by his courtiers to take this step, who doubtless envied the growing interest of Moses in his court:

but Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh; not through want of courage, but through prudence, to avoid danger, and preserve his life for future usefulness; and no doubt under a divine impulse, and by the direction of divine Providence, the time for him to be the deliverer of Israel not being yet come:

and dwelt in the land of Midian: a country so called from Midian, one of Abraham's sons by Keturah, Genesis 25:2. Jerom k calls it a city, and says it was on the other side of Arabia, to the south, in the desert of the Saracens, to the east of the Red sea, from whence the country was called Midian; and Philo l says, that Moses went into neighbouring Arabia; and which is confirmed by Artapanus m the Heathen historian, who says, that from Memphis, crossing the river Nile, he went into Arabia; and this country was sometimes called Cush or Ethiopia; hence Moses's wife is called an Ethiopian woman,

Numbers 12:1

and he sat down by a well; weary, thoughtful, and pensive. It may be observed, that it was usual with persons in such like circumstances, being strangers and not knowing well to whom to apply for assistance or direction, to place themselves at a well of water, to which there was frequent resort, both for the use of families and of flocks; see Genesis 24:11. This well is now called, as some say, Eyoun el Kaseb, fourteen hours and a half from Magare Chouaib, or "the grot of Jethro" n; but if this was so far from Jethro's house, his daughters had a long way to go with their flock: but some other travellers o speak of a very neat and pleasant village, called Hattin, where they were shown the grave of Jethro, Moses's father-in-law; and in the neighbourhood of that place is a cistern, now called Omar, and is said to be the watering place where Moses met with the daughters of the priest of Midian. A late learned man p thinks, that Sharma, which is about a day and a half's journey southeast from Mount Sinai, is the place where Jethro lived. The Arabic geographer q says, at the shore of the Red sea lies the city Madian, greater than Tabuc, and in it is a well, out of which Moses watered the flocks of Scioaib, that is, Raguel.

i Diodor. Sicul. Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 70. k De locis Heb. fol. 93. A. B. l De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 609. m Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 433. n See a Journey from Grand Cairo to Mecca, in Ray's Travels, vol. 2. p. 468. o Egmont and Heyman's Travels, vol. 2. p. 29. p See the Origin of Hieroglyphics, at the end of a Journal from Cairo, to Mount Sinai, p. 55. Ed. 2. q Climat. 3. par. 5.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

No Egyptian king would have left; such an offence unpunished. But the position of Moses, as an adopted son of a princess, made it necessary even for a despotic sovereign to take unusual precautions.

The land of Midian - The Midianites occupied an extensive district from the eastern coast of the Red Sea to the borders of Moab.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 2:15. Pharaoh - sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh — How can this be reconciled with Hebrews 11:27: By faith he (Moses) forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king? Very easily. The apostle speaks not of this forsaking of Egypt, but of his and the Israelites' final departure from it, and of the bold and courageous manner in which Moses treated Pharaoh and the Egyptians, disregarding his threatenings and the multitudes of them that pursued after the people whom, in the name and strength of God, he led in the face of their enemies out of Egypt.

Dwelt in the land of Midian — A country generally supposed to have been in Arabia Petraea, on the eastern coast of the Red Sea, not far from Mount Sinai. This place is still called by the Arabs the land of Midian or the land of Jethro. Abul Farajius calls it the land of the Arabs. It is supposed that the Midianites derived their origin from Midian, the fourth son of Abraham by Keturah, thus: - Abraham, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan and Midian, Raguel, Jethro; see Genesis 25:1. But Calmet contends that if Jethro had been of the family of Abraham, either by Jokshan, or Midian, Aaron and Miriam could not have reproached Moses with marrying a Cushite, Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel. He thinks therefore that the Midianites were of the progeny of Cush, the son of Ham; see Genesis 10:6.