Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.
Parallel Translations
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Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.
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And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
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And Moses was content to dwell with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Exodus 2:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 31:38-40 “These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven’t eaten the rams of your flocks. That which was torn of animals, I didn’t bring to you. I bore its loss. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.
- Hebrews 13:5 Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”
- Exodus 2:10 The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
- Exodus 4:20-25 Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God’s rod in his hand. Yahweh said to Moses, “When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. You shall tell Pharaoh, ‘Yahweh says, Israel is my son, my firstborn, and I have said to you, “Let my son go, that he may serve me;” and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ ” On the way at a lodging place, Yahweh met Moses and wanted to kill him. Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”
- Exodus 18:2-6 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, received Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her away, and her two sons. The name of one son was Gershom, for Moses said, “I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land”. The name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, “My father’s God was my help and delivered me from Pharaoh’s sword.” Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with Moses’ sons and his wife to Moses into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the Mountain of God. He said to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, have come to you with your wife, and her two sons with her.”
- Philippians 4:11-12 Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it. I know how to be humbled, and I also know how to abound. In everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need.
- 1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
- Hebrews 11:25 choosing rather to share ill treatment with God’s people than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time,
- James 1:10 and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away.
- Numbers 12:1 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 2:21 And Moses was content to dwell with…
Exo 2:21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
Ver. 21. Zipporah his daughter.] A peevish piece; a cold armful. {a} He had better, haply, have been married to a quartan ague. Sulla felix si non hobuisset uxorem, &c. It is not ill to marry, but good to be wary, lest we make shipwreck in the haven.
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{a} ψυχρον παρατκαλισμα. - Lycophron.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Moses was content; or, consented to this desire or…
Moses was content; or, consented to this desire or offer. And so his present and temporary repose there is turned into a settled habitation. Moses married Zipporah not instantly, but after some years of acquaintance with the family, as may probably be gathered from the youngness and uncircumcisedness of one of his sons forty years after this, Exo 4:25. In which time, as Moses would not fail to instruct them in the knowledge of the true God, which he was able excellently to do, so it is likely he had succeeded therein in some measure, and therefore married Zipporah.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Moses was content to dwell with the man,....…
And Moses was content to dwell with the man,.... After he had been called and brought into the house, and had had some refreshment, and after some conversation had passed between them, and perhaps after some days' stay in Reuel's house; Reuel having observed his disposition and behaviour, and being delighted therewith, proposed to him to take up his residence with him, with which motion Moses was well pleased, and accepted of it:
and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter; to be his wife. It is not to be supposed that this was done directly; though both Philo (u) and Josephus (w) intimate as if it was done at first meeting together; but it is not likely that Reuel would dispose of his daughter so suddenly to a stranger, though he might at once entertain an high opinion of him; nor would Moses marry a woman directly he had so slender an acquaintance with, so little knowledge of her disposition, endowments of mind and religion. The Targum of Jonathan says it was at the end of ten years; and indeed forty years after this a son of his seems to have been young, having not till then been circumcised, Exo 4:22. The author of the Life of Moses says (x), that he was seventy seven years of age when he married Zipporah, which was but three years before he returned to Egypt. This circumstance of Moses's marrying Reuel's daughter is confirmed by Artapanus (y) an Heathen historian; and also by Demetrius (z), and expressly calls her Sapphora, who he says was a daughter of Jother or Jethro; and likewise by Ezekiel the tragedian (a).
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(u) De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 611. (w) Antiqu. l. 2. c. 11. sect. 2. (x) Chronicon Mosis, fol. 9. 1. (y) Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434. (z) Ib. c. 29. p. 439. (a) lb. c. 28.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 21. Zipporah his daughter.] Abul Farajius calls her…
Verse 21. Zipporah his daughter.] Abul Farajius calls her "Saphura the black, daughter of Rewel the Midianite, the son of Dedan, the son of Abraham by his wife Keturah." The Targum calls her the granddaughter of Reuel. It appears that Moses obtained Zipporah something in the same way that Jacob obtained Rachel; namely, for the performance of certain services, probably keeping of sheep: see Ex 3:1.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 2:21. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter —…
Exo 2:21. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter — Whom he married, not immediately, but after some years of acquaintance with the family, as may be gathered from the youth of one of his sons, and his being uncircumcised forty years after this, Exo 4:25.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Moses tells us nothing of what he may have…
Moses tells us nothing of what he may have learned from his father-in-law, but he must have found in him a man conversant with the traditions of the family of Abraham; nor is there any improbability in the supposition that, as hereditary priest, Reuel may have possessed written documents concerning their common ancestors.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Swore. Hebrew Goel is rendered "was willing." --- Symmachus…
Swore. Hebrew Goel is rendered "was willing." --- Symmachus has, "He conjured Moses;" and Theodotion, "Moses began to dwell." The Septuagint neglect the word entirely, "But Moses took up his abode."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 21, 22. The Egyptian prince is content to become…
21, 22. The Egyptian prince is content to become the shepherd of an humble Arab priest, whose daughter, a child of the desert, becomes the Zipporah (little bird) of his wilderness home. The sceptre that had been almost within his grasp is exchanged for a shepherd’s crook. The learning, luxury, and power of Egypt are exchanged for the barbarism, sand, and stones of Midian. It was the way of duty, but a wonderfully mysterious way! The deliverer is in the glory of his strength and eager for his work, and his people are dying — yet God does not speak! The name of his first-born,
Gershom — a stranger there — tells us that he feels his exile, that his heart is with his far-off people, but we hear no murmur; and the name of his second born,
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Eliezer — my God (is my) help — shows that his faith was firm. He vanishes into the awful solitudes of Sinai, and we neither see nor hear of him any more for forty years.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 21. was content] or agreed; cf. Jdg_17:11; Jdg_19:6.
21. was content] or agreed; cf. Jdg_17:11; Jdg_19:6.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (21) Moses was content to dwell with the man.—Reuel…
(21) Moses was content to dwell with the man.—Reuel must have been so pleased with the manner and appearance of Moses that he invited him to take service with him—perhaps to share his tent. Moses consented, and in course of time took to wife Zipporah, one of Reuel’s daughters. Marriage with the Midianites was allowed, even under the Law. It has been conjectured that Reuel might have communicated to Moses traditions, or even documents concerning their common ancestor, Abraham, and his family. But there is nothing to indicate the use of letters at this early date by the Midianites.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Moses was content to dwell with the man. Moses…
Moses was content to dwell with the man. Moses had fled from Egypt without any definite plan, simply to save his life, and had now to determine how he would obtain a subsistence. Received into Reuel"s house, or tent, pleased with the man and with his family, he consented to stay with him, probably entered into his service, as Jacob into Laban"s, (Gen_29:15-20) kept his sheep, or otherwise made himself useful; (Exo_3:1) and in course of time Reuel gave Moses his daughter, accepted him for his son-in-law, so that he became not merely a member of his household, but of his family, was adopted probably into the tribe, so that he could not quit it without permission, (Exo_4:18) and, so far as his own intention went, cast in his lot with the Midianites, with whom he meant henceforth to live and die. Such vague ideas as he may previously have entertained of his "mission" had passed away; he had been "disillusioned" by his ill-success, and now looked forward to nothing but a life of peaceful obscurity.
Vers. 21, 22Moses as husband and father.
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The Midianites were descendants of Abraham; (Gen_25:2) and marriage with them was permitted, even under the Law. (Num_31:18) Moses, in wedding Zipporah, obeyed the primeval command, "Be fruitful and multiply", (Gen_1:28) while at the same time he gave himself the solace so much needed by an exile, of tender and loving lifelong companionship. That Reuel was willing to give him one of his daughters indicates that he had approved himself as a faithful servant in the good priest"s household, and was felt to deserve a reward. That Zipporah accepted him was perhaps mere filial obedience, for which she was rewarded when the fugitive and exile became the first man in a considerable nation. God blessed the marriage with male issue, a blessing fondly desired by each true Israelite, and certainly not least by Moses, who knew so well that in some descendant of Abraham "all the families of the earth should be blessed." A shade of sadness shows itself, however, in the name which he gave his firstborn Gershom, "a stranger there." He himself had been for years, and, for aught that he could tell. his son might always be "a stranger in a strange land" far from his true home, far from his own people, a refugee among foreigners, who could not be expected to love him as one of themselves, or treat him otherwise than with coldness. Depression like this often assails us at moments of great joy, the good obtained making us feel all the more sensibly that other goods have been lost. Such depression, however, after a time, passes away, and the desponding cry of "Gershom" is followed (Exo_18:3, Exo_18:4) by that of" Eliezer," or "my God helps."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Moses agreed to stay with the man
Moses agreed to stay with the man
"Moses agreed to live with Reuel"
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Zipporah
This is Reuel's daughter. (See: How to Translate Names)
Gershom
This is Moses's son. (See: How to Translate Names)
resident in a foreign land
"stranger in a foreign land"
translationWords
Moses
alien
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.