Exodus 2:3
New International Version
But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

New Living Translation
But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River.

English Standard Version
When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.

Berean Standard Bible
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.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank.

New American Standard Bible
But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and covered it with tar and pitch. Then she put the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

NASB 1995
But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

NASB 1977
But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it, and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

Legacy Standard Bible
But she could not hide him any longer. So she took for him an ark of papyrus reeds and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and put it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

Amplified Bible
When she could no longer hide him, she got him a basket (chest) made of papyrus reeds and covered it with tar and pitch [making it waterproof]. Then she put the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

Christian Standard Bible
But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

American Standard Version
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.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And she was not able to hide him again and she took for him an ark of acacia wood and she smeared it with resin and with pitch and she set the boy in it and she set it in the shallows on the shore of the river.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And when they could no longer hide him, his mother took for him an ark, and besmeared it with bitumen, and cast the child into it, and put it in the ooze by the river.

Contemporary English Version
But when she could no longer keep him hidden, she made a basket out of reeds and covered it with tar. She put him in the basket and placed it in the tall grass along the edge of the Nile River.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And when she could hide him no longer, she took a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and pitch: and put the little babe therein, and laid him in the sedges by the river's brink,

English Revised Version
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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
When she couldn't hide him any longer, she took a basket made of papyrus plants and coated it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in it and set it among the papyrus plants near the bank of the Nile River.

Good News Translation
But when she could not hide him any longer, she took a basket made of reeds and covered it with tar to make it watertight. She put the baby in it and then placed it in the tall grass at the edge of the river.

International Standard Version
But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus container, coated it with asphalt and pitch, placed the child in it, and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

JPS Tanakh 1917
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.

Literal Standard Version
and she has not been able to hide him anymore, and she takes an ark of rushes for him, and covers it with bitumen and with pitch, and puts the boy in it, and puts [it] in the weeds by the edge of the River;

Majority Standard Bible
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.

New American Bible
But when she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket, daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and putting the child in it, placed it among the reeds on the bank of the Nile.

NET Bible
But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him and sealed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and set it among the reeds along the edge of the Nile.

New Revised Standard Version
When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river.

New Heart English Bible
When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus box for him and coated it with bitumen and with pitch. And she put the child in it and put it among the rushes by the bank of the river.

Webster's Bible Translation
And when she could no 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.

World English Bible
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.

Young's Literal Translation
and she hath not been able any more to hide him, and she taketh for him an ark of rushes, and daubeth it with bitumen and with pitch, and putteth the lad in it, and putteth it in the weeds by the edge of the River;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Birth of Moses
2and she conceived and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months. 3But 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. 4And his sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.…

Cross References
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.

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.

Isaiah 19:6
The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up; the reeds and rushes will wither.

Isaiah 35:7
The parched ground will become a pool, the thirsty land springs of water. In the haunt where jackals once lay, there will be grass and reeds and papyrus.


Treasury of Scripture

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.

could not.

Exodus 1:22
And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

Matthew 2:13,16
And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him…

Acts 7:19
The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.

an ark.

Isaiah 18:2
That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

bulrushes.

with slime.

Genesis 6:14
Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

Genesis 11:3
And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

Genesis 14:10
And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.

Jump to Previous
Able Ark Baby Bank Basket Bitumen Brink Bulrushes Child Coated Covered Daubed Earth Flags Hide Longer Nile Papyrus Pitch Placing Plants Plastered Reeds Resin River's Slime Stems Sticky Tar Therein Water Water-Plants
Jump to Next
Able Ark Baby Bank Basket Bitumen Brink Bulrushes Child Coated Covered Daubed Earth Flags Hide Longer Nile Papyrus Pitch Placing Plants Plastered Reeds Resin River's Slime Stems Sticky Tar Therein Water Water-Plants
Exodus 2
1. Moses is born, and placed in a basket in the reeds of Nile.
5. He is found, and brought up by Pharaoh's daughter;
7. who employs his mother to nurse him.
11. He kills an Egyptian.
13. He reproves a Hebrew.
15. He flees into Midian, and marries Zipporah.
22. Gershom is born.
23. God respects the Israelites' cry.














(3) An ark of bulrushes.--Literally, a chest of the papyrus plant. The words used are both of Egyptian origin. Teb, teba, or tebat, is a "box" or chest in Egyptian, and is well Hebraised by tebah, or, as it is here vocalised, teybah. The papyrus plant was in Egyptian kam, as in modern Coptic, whence probably the Hebrew gome. It was a material frequently used by the Egyptians for boats and even larger vessels (Isaiah 18:2; Theophrast. Hist. Plant, iv. 8, ?4; P1in. H. N. 13:11).

Slime and pitoh.--By "slime" seems to be meant bitumen, or mineral pitch, as in Gen. ad. 3; by "pitch" (zaphath), the ordinary vegetable pitch of commerce. Mineral pitch, though not a product of Egypt, was imported into the country from Mesopotamia, and was largely used for embalming (Brugsch, History of Egypt, vol. i. p. 361).

In the flags.--A rank aquatic vegetation abounds on the Lower Nile, and in all the back-waters and marshy tracts connected with it. Jochebed placed her child "in the flags," that the ark might not float away down the river, and so be lost to her sight. The word used for "flag"--suph--seems to be a Hebraised form of tufi, a common Egyptian word, having this sense.

Verse 3. - She took for him an ark of bulrushes. The words translated "ark" and "bulrushes" are both of Egyptian origin, the former corresponding to the ordinary word for "chest," which is feb, teba, or tebat, and the latter corresponding to the Egyptian kam, which is the same in Coptic, and designates the papyrus plant. This is a strong-growing rush, with a triangular stem, which attains the height of from 10 to 15 feet. The Egyptian paper was made from its pith. The rush itself was used for various purposes - among others for boat-building (Plin. 'H. N.' 6:22; 7:16; Theophrast, 4:9; Pint. 'De Isid. et Osir.' § 18, etc.), as appears from the monuments. It would be a very good material for the sort of purpose to which Jochebed applied it. She daubed it with slime and with pitch. The word translated "slime" is the same as that used in Genesis 11:3, which is generally thought to mean "mineral pitch" or "bitumen." According to Strabo and Dioderus, that material was largely used by the Egyptians for the embalming of corpses, and was imported into Egypt from Palestine. Boats are sometimes covered with it externally at the present day (Ker Porter, Travels, vol. 2. p. 260; Layard,'Nineveh and its Remains,' pt. 2. ch. 5.); but Jochebed seems to have used vegetable pitch- the ordinary pitch of commerce - for the purpose. Here again the Hebrew word is taken from the Egyptian. She laid it in the flags. "Suph," the word translated "flags," is a modification of the Egyptian tuff, which has that meaning. Water-plants of all kinds abound in the backwaters of the Nile. and the marshy tracts communicating with it. The object of placing the ark in a thicket of reeds probably was, that it might not float away out of sight. The river's brink. Literally, the lip of the river - an Egyptian idiom.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
But when she could
יָכְלָ֣ה (yā·ḵə·lāh)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 3201: To be able, have power

no
וְלֹא־ (wə·lō-)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

longer
עוֹד֮ (‘ō·wḏ)
Adverb
Strong's 5750: Iteration, continuance, again, repeatedly, still, more

hide him,
הַצְּפִינוֹ֒ (haṣ·ṣə·p̄î·nōw)
Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 6845: To hide, to hoard, reserve, to deny, to protect, to lurk

she got
וַתִּֽקַּֽח־ (wat·tiq·qaḥ-)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 3947: To take

him
לוֹ֙ (lōw)
Preposition | third person masculine singular
Strong's Hebrew

a papyrus
גֹּ֔מֶא (gō·me)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1573: An absorbent, the bulrush, the papyrus

basket
תֵּ֣בַת (tê·ḇaṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 8392: A box, chest

and coated it
וַתַּחְמְרָ֥ה (wat·taḥ·mə·rāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 2560: To boil up, to ferment, to glow, to smear with pitch

with tar
בַחֵמָ֖ר (ḇa·ḥê·mār)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2564: Bitumen, asphalt

and pitch.
וּבַזָּ֑פֶת (ū·ḇaz·zā·p̄eṯ)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2203: Asphalt

Then she placed
וַתָּ֤שֶׂם (wat·tā·śem)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 7760: Put -- to put, place, set

the child
הַיֶּ֔לֶד (hay·ye·leḏ)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3206: Something born, a lad, offspring

in
בָּהּ֙ (bāh)
Preposition | third person feminine singular
Strong's Hebrew

[the basket]
אֶת־ (’eṯ-)
Direct object marker
Strong's 853: Untranslatable mark of the accusative case

and set
וַתָּ֥שֶׂם (wat·tā·śem)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 7760: Put -- to put, place, set

it among the reeds
בַּסּ֖וּף (bas·sūp̄)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5488: A reed, the papyrus

along
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the bank
שְׂפַ֥ת (śə·p̄aṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 8193: The lip, language, a margin

of the Nile.
הַיְאֹֽר׃ (hay·’ōr)
Article | Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 2975: Nile -- a channel, a fosse, canal, shaft, the Nile, the Tigris


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OT Law: Exodus 2:3 When she could no longer hide him (Exo. Ex)
Exodus 2:2
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