Exodus Chapter 2 verse 16 Holy Bible
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
read chapter 2 in ASV
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came to get water for their father's flock.
read chapter 2 in BBE
And the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew [water], and filled the troughs, to water their father's flock.
read chapter 2 in DARBY
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
read chapter 2 in KJV
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
read chapter 2 in WBT
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
read chapter 2 in WEB
And to a priest of Midian `are' seven daughters, and they come and draw, and fill the troughs, to water the flock of their father,
read chapter 2 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 16-22. - LIFE OF MOSES IN MIDIAN. Fugitives from Egypt generally took the northern route from Pelusium or Migdol to Gaza, and so to Syria, or the regions beyond. But in this quarter they were liable to be arrested and sent back to the Egyptian monarch. Rameses II: put a special clause to this effect into his treaty with the contemporary Hittite king (Brugsch, 'History of Egypt,' vol. 2 p. 73). It was, perhaps, the fear of extradition which made Moses turn his steps southeastward, and proceed along the route, or at any rate in the direction, which he afterwards took with his nation. Though Egypt had possessions in the Sinaitic peninsula, it was not difficult to avoid them; and before Sinai was reached the fugitive would be in complete safety, for the Egyptians seem never to have penetrated to the southern or eastern parts of the great triangle. "The well," by which Moses took up his abode, is placed with some probability in the neighbourhood of Sherm, about ten miles north-east of Ras Mahommed, the southern cape of the peninsula Verse 16. - The priest of Midian. Cohen is certainly "priest" here, and not "prince," since the father-in-law of Moses exercises priestly functions in Exodus 18:12. His seven daughters drew water for his flock, in accordance with Eastern custom. So Rachel "kept the sheep" of her father Laban, and watered them (Genesis 29:9). Such a practice agrees well with the simplicity of primitive times and peoples; nor would it even at the present day be regarded as strange in Arabia.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(16) The priest of Midian.--Reuel may have been both "priest" and "prince," like Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18); but there is no reason to doubt that he is here called "priest." In Exodus 18:12, Jethro is represented as exercising priestly functions. The Midianites, descendants of Abraham by Keturah, worshipped the true God, and seem to have been at this time a religious people. The name Reuel, or Raguel, means "friend of God." Jethro's sacrifices were "for God," and Aaron and the elders eat bread with him "before God."They came and drew water.--Comp. Genesis 29:9. According to Oriental ideas, there is nothing derogatory in the daughters of a chief so acting.
