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

15When Pharaoh heard about this event, he sought to kill Moses. So Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he settled by a certain well. 16Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and began to draw water and fill the troughs in order to water their father’s flock. When some shepherds came and drove them away, Moses came up and defended them and then watered their flock. 18So when they came home to their father Reuel, he asked, “Why have you come home so early today?” 19They said, “An Egyptian man rescued us from the shepherds, and he actually drew water for us and watered the flock!”

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 21:25But Abraham lodged a complaint against Abimelech concerning a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized.
• Genesis 26:15So the Philistines took dirt and filled up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.
• Exodus 2:12He looked this way and that and saw that no one was there, and then he attacked the Egyptian and concealed the body in the sand.
• Genesis 29:10When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, and the sheep of his uncle Laban, he went over and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of his uncle Laban.

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