Wisdom 11:7
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
7 as a rebuke to the decree for the slaying of infants,
You gave them abundant water beyond their hope,
Wisdom 11:14
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
14 For though they had mocked and rejected him who had been cast out and abandoned long ago,
in the final outcome, they marveled at him,
since their thirst proved unlike that of the righteous.(A)
Exodus 1:16
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
16 “When you act as midwives for the Hebrew women, look on the birthstool:[a] if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she may live.”
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- 1:16 Birthstool: apparently a pair of stones on which the mother is seated for childbirth opposite the midwife. The Hebrew word elsewhere is used to refer to the stones of a potter’s wheel.
Exodus 1:22
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
22 Pharaoh then commanded all his people, “Throw into the Nile every boy that is born,(A) but you may let all the girls live.”
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Exodus 2:3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
3 But when she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket,[a] daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and putting the child in it, placed it among the reeds on the bank of the Nile.
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- 2:3 Basket: the same Hebrew word is used in Gn 6:14 and throughout the flood narrative for Noah’s ark, but nowhere else in the Bible. Here, however, the “ark” or “chest” was made of papyrus stalks. Presumably the allusion to Genesis is intentional. Just as Noah and his family were preserved safe from the threatening waters of the flood in the ark he built, so now Moses is preserved from the threatening waters of the Nile in the ark prepared by his mother. Among the reeds: the Hebrew noun for “reed” is overwhelmingly used in the phrase “Reed Sea,” traditionally translated “Red Sea.”
Exodus 2:6-10
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
6 On opening it, she looked, and there was a baby boy crying! She was moved with pity for him and said, “It is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and summon a Hebrew woman to nurse the child for you?” 8 Pharaoh’s daughter answered her, “Go.” So the young woman went and called the child’s own mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.”[a] So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 When the child grew,[b] she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son.(A) She named him Moses; for she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
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- 2:9 And I will pay your wages: the idea that the child’s mother will be paid for nursing her child—and by Pharaoh’s own daughter—heightens the narrative’s irony.
- 2:10 When the child grew: while v. 9 implies that the boy’s mother cared for him as long as he needed to be nursed (presumably, between two and four years), the same verb appears in v. 11 to describe the attainment of adulthood. And he became her son: Pharaoh’s daughter adopts Moses, thus adding to the irony of the account. The king of Egypt had ordered the killing of all the sons of the Hebrews, and one now becomes the son of his own daughter! Moses: in Hebrew, mosheh. There is a play on words here: Hebrew mosheh echoes meshithihu (“I drew him out”). However, the name Moses actually has nothing to do with that Hebrew verb, but is probably derived from Egyptian “beloved” or “has been born,” preserved in such Pharaonic names as Thutmoses (meaning approximately “Beloved of the god Thoth” or “The god Thoth is born, has given birth to [the child]”). The original meaning of Moses’ name was no longer remembered (if it was Egyptian, it may have contained an Egyptian divine element as well, perhaps the name of the Nile god Hapi), and a secondary explanation was derived from this story (or gave rise to it, if the drawing from the water of the Nile was intended to foreshadow the Israelites’ escape from Egypt through the Red Sea).
Exodus 15:10
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
10 When you blew with your breath, the sea covered them;
like lead they sank in the mighty waters.
Nehemiah 9:11
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
11 (A)The sea you divided before them,
on dry ground they passed through the midst of the sea;
Their pursuers you hurled into the depths,
like a stone into the mighty waters.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.