Exodus 2 · Verse 1

Exodus 2:1

And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

Exodus 2:1, King James Version

Exodus 2:1 in other translations

BSB	Now a man of the house of Levi married a daughter of Levi,
WEB	A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife.
ASV	And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
YLT	And there goeth a man of the house of Levi, and he taketh the daughter of Levi,
DARBY	And a man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi.
BBE	Now a man of the house of Levi took as his wife a daughter of Levi.
Webster	And there went a man of the house of Levi, and married a daughter of Levi.

What does Exodus 2:1 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

Ex 2:1-10. Birth and Preservation of Moses.

1. there went a man of the house of Levi, &c. Amram was the husband and Jochebed the wife (compare Ex 6:2; Nu 26:59). The marriage took place, and two children, Miriam and Aaron, were born some years before the infanticidal edict.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Introduction

Amram and Jochebed marry, Exo 2:1. Moses is born, and is hidden by his mother three months, Exo 2:2. Is exposed in an ark of bulrushes on the riser Nile, and watched by his sister, Exo 2:3, Exo 2:4. He is found by the daughter of Pharaoh, who commits him to the care of his own mother, and has him educated as her own son, Exo 2:5-9. When grown up, he is brought to Pharaoh's daughter, who receives him as her own child, and calls him Moses, Exo 2:10. Finding an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, he kills the Egyptian, and hides him in the sand, Exo 2:11, Exo 2:12. Reproves two Hebrews that were contending together, one of whom charges him with killing the Egyptian, Exo 2:13, Exo 2:14. Pharaoh, hearing of the death of the Egyptian, sought to slay Moses, who, being alarmed, escapes to the land of Midian, Exo 2:15. Meets with the seven daughters of Reuel, priest or prince of Midian, who came to water their flocks, and assists them, Exo 2:16, Exo 2:17. On their return they inform their father Reuel, who invites Moses to his house, Exo 2:18-20. Moses dwells with him, and receives Zipporah his daughter to wife, Exo 2:21. She bears him a son whom he calls Gershom, Exo 2:22. The children of Israel, grievously oppressed in Egypt, cry for deliverance, Exo 2:23. God remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and hears their prayer, Exo 2:24, Exo 2:25. Verse 1 There went a man - Amram, son of Kohath, son of Levi, Exo 6:16-20. A daughter of Levi, Jochebed, sister to Kohath, and consequently both the wife and aunt of her husband Amram, Exo 6:20; Num 26:59. Such marriages were at this time lawful, though they were afterwards forbidden, Lev 18:12. But it is possible that daughter of Levi means no more than a descendant of that family, and that probably Amram and Jochebed were only cousin germans. As a new law was to be given and a new priesthood formed, God chose a religious family out of which the lawgiver and the high priest were both to spring.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Exodus 2:1-4

Observe the order of Providence: just at the time when Pharaoh's cruelty rose to its height by ordering the Hebrew children to be drowned, the deliverer was born. When men are contriving the ruin of the church, God is preparing for its salvation. The parents of Moses saw he was a goodly child. A lively faith can take encouragement from the least hint of the Divine favour. It is said, He 11:23, that the parents of Moses hid him by faith; they had the promise that Israel should be preserved, which they relied upon. Faith in God's promise quickens to the use of lawful means for obtaining mercy. Duty is ours, events are God's. Faith in God will set us above the fear of man. At three months' end, when they could not hide the infant any longer, they put him in an ark of bulrushes by the river's brink, and set his sister to watch. And if the weak affection of a mother were thus careful, what shall we think of Him, whose love, whose compassion is, as himself, boundless. Moses never had a stronger protection about him, no, not when all the Israelites were round his tent in the wilderness, than now, when he lay alone, a helpless babe upon the waves. No water, no Egyptian can hurt him. When we seem most neglected and forlorn, God is most present with us.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Exodus 2:1 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיֵּ֥לֶךְvai.Ye.lekhand he wentH1980

אִ֖ישׁ'isha manH376

מִבֵּ֣יתmi.Beitfrom [the] house ofH1004

לֵוִ֑יle.ViLeviH3878

וַיִּקַּ֖חvai.yi.Kachand he tookH3947

אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853

בַּת\־bat-[the] daughter ofH1323

לֵוִֽי\׃le.ViLeviH3878

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Exodus 2:1

Numbers 26:59
And the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt: and she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister.
Exodus 6:16-20
And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi were an hundred thirty and seven years. The sons of Gershon; Libni, and Shimi, according to their families. And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty and three years. And the sons of Merari; Mahali and Mushi: these are the families of Levi according to their generations. …
1 Chronicles 23:12-14
The sons of Kohath; Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four. The sons of Amram; Aaron and Moses: and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons for ever, to burn incense before the Lord, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name for ever. Now concerning Moses the man of God, his sons were named of the tribe of Levi.
1 Chronicles 6:1-3
The sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the sons of Kohath; Amram, Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel. And the children of Amram; Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam. The sons also of Aaron; Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1 Moses is born, and in an ark cast into the flags.
5 He is found, and brought up by Pharaoh's daughter;
7 who employs his mother to nurse him.
11 He slays an Egyptian.
13 He reproves an Hebrew.
15 He flees into Midian, and marries Zipporah.
22 Gershom is born.
23 God respects the Israelites' cry.

A.M. 2432. B.C. 1572. of the house.
6:16-20; Nu 26:59; 1Ch 6:1-3; 23:12-14

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Exodus 2:1
And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
Exodus 2:2
And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

Read all of Exodus 2

Exodus 2:1 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	UN varón de la familia de Leví fué, y tomó por mujer una hija de Leví:
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	*Et un homme de la maison de Lévi alla, et prit une fille de Lévi;
German Elberfelder 1871	Und ein Mann vom Hause Levi ging hin und nahm eine Tochter Levis.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Egressus est post hæc vir de domo Levi: et accepit uxorem stirpis suæ.