God’s Word Translation
Exodus 2:3
3When 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.
Exodus 2:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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 International Version (NIV)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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)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.
- New King James Version (NKJV)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.
Context of Exodus 2:3
1A man from Levi’s family married a Levite woman. 2The woman became pregnant and had a son. She saw how beautiful he was and hid him for three months. 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. 4The baby’s sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. 5While Pharaoh’s daughter came to the Nile to take a bath, her servants walked along the bank of the river. She saw the basket among the papyrus plants and sent her slave girl to get it.
Read all of Exodus 2Exodus 2:3 word by word
וְלֹא־יָכְלָ֣ה עוֹד֮ הַצְּפִינוֹ֒ וַתִּֽקַּֽח־לוֹ֙ תֵּ֣בַת גֹּ֔מֶא וַתַּחְמְרָ֥ה בַחֵמָ֖ר וּבַזָּ֑פֶת וַתָּ֤שֶׂם בָּהּ֙ אֶת־הַיֶּ֔לֶד וַתָּ֥שֶׂם בַּסּ֖וּף עַל־שְׂפַ֥ת הַיְאֹֽר׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- And when she couldיָכֹלyâkôl yâkôl · be ableH3201
- not longerעוֹד‛ôd ‛ôd · stillH5750
- hideצָפַןtsâphan · to treasureH6845
- him, she tookלָקַחlâqach · to take: takeH3947
- for him an arkתֵּבָהtêbâh · arkH8392
- of bulrushesגֹּ֫מֶאgôme' · reedH1573
- and daubedחָמַרchâmar · to daubH2560
- it with slimeחֵמָרchêmâr · bitumenH2564
- and with pitchזֶ֫פֶתzepheth · pitchH2203
- and putשׂוּםώûm ώîym · to set: putH7760
- the childיֶ֫לֶדyeled · youthH3206
- in the flagsסוּףsûph · reedH5488
- by the river’sיְאֹרye'ôr · NileH2975
- brinkשָׂפָהώâphâh ώepheth · lip: shoreH8193
Cross-references for Exodus 2:3
- Exodus 1:22Then Pharaoh commanded all his people to throw into the Nile every ⌞Hebrew⌟ boy that was born, but to let every girl live.
- Matthew 2:13After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. The angel said to him, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and kill him.”
- Acts 7:19This king was shrewd in the way he took advantage of our people. He mistreated our ancestors. He made them abandon their newborn babies outdoors, where they would die.
- Isaiah 18:2It sends messengers by sea in boats made of reeds ⌞skimming⌟ over the surface of the water. Go, swift messengers, to a tall and smooth-skinned people, a people ⌞who are⌟ feared far and near, a strong and aggressive nation, whose land is divided by rivers.
- Genesis 6:14Make yourself a ship of cypress wood. Make rooms in the ship and coat it inside and out with tar.
- Genesis 11:3They said to one another, “Let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used bricks as stones and tar as mortar.
- Genesis 14:10The valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. As the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell because of the tar pits, but the other kings fled to the hills.
Commentaries on Exodus 2:3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3An ark of bulrushes - גמא תבת tebath gome, a small boat or basket made of the Egyptian reed called papyrus, so famous in all antiquity. This plant grows on the banks of the Nile, and in marshy grounds; the stalk rises to the height of six or seven cubits above the water, is triangular, and terminates in a crown of small filaments resembling hair, which the ancients used to compare to a thyrsus. This reed was of the greatest use to the inhabitants of…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3The ark was made of the papyrus which was commonly used by the Egyptians for light and swift boats. The species is no longer found in the Nile below Nubia. It is a strong rush, like the bamboo, about the thickness of a finger, three cornered, and attains the height of 10 to 15 feet. It is represented with great accuracy on the most ancient monuments of Egypt. Slime and pitch - The “slime” is probably the mud, of which bricks were usually made in Egypt…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3Papyrus reeds grew plentifully along the many streams into which the Nile River divided in the delta region of northern Egypt. They were light and flexible, well-suited for basket weaving. It is possible that the mother of Moses placed the basket in the water exactly where it was most likely to be found by the Egyptian princess.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. she took for him an ark of bulrushes--papyrus, a thick, strong, and tough reed. slime--the mud of the Nile, which, when hardened, is very tenacious. pitch--mineral tar. Boats of this description are seen daily floating on the surface of the river, with no other caulking than Nile mud (compare Is 18:2), and they are perfectly watertight, unless the coating is forced off by stormy weather. flags--a general term for sea or river weed. The chest was not…Read the comment
Topics related to Exodus 2:3
In the dictionaries
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
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