Exodus 2:17

Exodus 2:17 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
• New International Version (NIV)Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.
• English Standard Version (ESV)The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

Context of Exodus 2:17

15Pharaoh heard about what had happened. He wanted to kill Moses. So Moses ran away from Pharaoh. He went from Egypt to the country called Midian and he lived there. One day, Moses sat down by a well which was near where he lived. 16There was a priest in Midian who had seven daughters. Those seven young women came to get water out of the well. They used the water to fill the places where the animals drink. Then their father's sheep and goats could drink there. But some shepherds then arrived at the well. They made the girls go away. So Moses stood up and he went to help the young women. He gave water to their animals. 18Then the girls went back home to Reuel, their father. He asked them, ‘Why have you come home so soon today?’ 19They answered, ‘An Egyptian man saved us from the shepherds. He even took water from the well and he gave it to our animals.’

Exodus 2:17 word by word

וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ הָרֹעִ֖ים וַיְגָרְשׁ֑וּם וַיָּ֤קָם מֹשֶׁה֙ וַיּ֣וֹשִׁעָ֔ן וַיַּ֖שְׁקְ אֶת־צֹאנָֽם׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And the shepherdsרָעָהrâ‛âh · to pastureH7462
• cameבּוֹאbô' · to come (in): comeH935
• and drove them awayגָּרַשׁgârash · to drive out: drive outH1644
• but Mosesמֹשֶׁהmôsheh · MosesH4872
• stood upקוּםqûm · to arise: riseH6965
• and helpedיָשַׁעyâsha‛ · to saveH3467
• them, and wateredשָׁקָהshâqâh · to water: wateringH8248
• their flockצֹאןtsô'n tse'ôn · flockH6629

Cross-references for Exodus 2:17

• Genesis 21:25One day, Abraham complained to Abimelech about a certain well of water. Abimelech's servants had taken the well from Abraham. They said that the well belonged to them.
• Genesis 26:15So they took dirt from the ground and they filled up Isaac's wells. When Abraham was alive, his servants had dug these wells to get water.
• Exodus 2:12Moses looked in every direction. He saw that nobody was near. So Moses killed the Egyptian. He buried his body in the sand to hide it.
• Genesis 29:10Jacob saw Rachel. She was the daughter of his uncle Laban. Jacob saw that she had Laban's sheep with her. So Jacob went to the well and he removed the big stone. Then he gave water to Laban's sheep.

Commentaries on Exodus 2:17

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 17The shepherds - drove them - The verb יגרשים yegareshum, being in the masculine gender, seems to imply that the shepherds drove away the flocks of Reuel's daughters, and not the daughters themselves. The fact seems to be, that, as the daughters of Reuel filled the troughs and brought their flocks to drink, the shepherds drove those away, and, profiting by the young women's labor, watered their own cattle. Moses resisted this insolence, and assisted them…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 16-22Verses 16-22 Moses found shelter in Midian. He was ready to help Reuel's daughters to water their flocks, although bred in learning and at court. Moses loved to be doing justice, and to act in defence of such as he saw injured, which every man ought to do, as far as it is in his power. He loved to be doing good; wherever the providence of God casts us, we should desire and try to be useful; and when we cannot do the good we would, we must be ready to do…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 17rose up to help: Moses, now in a foreign land, still could not ignore oppression. He was, by nature, a rescuer.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 16-2216-22. the priest of Midian--or, "prince of Midian." As the officers were usually conjoined, he was the ruler also of the people called Cushites or Ethiopians, and like many other chiefs of pastoral people in that early age, he still retained the faith and worship of the true God. seven daughters--were shepherdesses to whom Moses was favorably introduced by an act of courtesy and courage in protecting them from the rude shepherds of some neighboring tribe…Read the comment

Topics related to Exodus 2:17

• Jethro
• Moses
• Zipporah

In the dictionaries

• Moses
• Herself
• Midianite
• Son
• Soon
• Exodus, the Book of
• Genesis
• Jethro
• Leviticus
• Reuel

Commentaries on Exodus 2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings