Exodus 2 recounts the story of Moses’s birth and early years. Born during Pharaoh’s edict to kill Hebrew boys, Moses is hidden by his mother and placed in a basket in the Nile. Pharaoh’s daughter finds him and raises him as her own son, while his mother acts as his nurse.

As an adult, Moses kills an Egyptian for beating a Hebrew and then flees to Midian. There, he marries Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, and begins a new life as a shepherd.

The chapter concludes with Israel crying out under slavery, and God hearing their cry, remembering His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.