Bible Strands
Exodus 2:16
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Moses’ arrival in Midian after fleeing Pharaoh, describing the local priest’s family gathering water at the well.
The words — כֹּהֵן מִדְיָן (kohen Midyan) translates literally to priest of Midian, and שֶׁבַע בָּנוֹת (sheva banot) means seven daughters.
The thread — This well scene parallels the servant’s water test at Genesis 24:11, later becomes the location of Moses’ commission at Exodus 3:1, and echoes the water-drawing motif in 1 Samuel 9:11.
Why it lands — The passage places a fugitive in a local priest’s household to establish his new social position and prepare the physical setting for divine encounter.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.
Cross-references
- Genesis 24:11 As evening approached, he made the camels kneel down near the well outside the town at the time when the women went out to draw water.
- Exodus 3:1 Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
- 1 Samuel 9:11 And as they were climbing the hill to the city, they met some young women coming out to draw water and asked, “Is the seer here?”
- Genesis 24:14 Now may it happen that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels as well’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”
- Genesis 29:6 “Is he well?” Jacob inquired. “Yes,” they answered, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with his sheep.”
- Genesis 41:45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah, and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph took charge of all the land of Egypt.
- Genesis 14:18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine—since he was priest of God Most High—