Many years had passed since Joseph saved Egypt from famine. Jacob's family had settled in Egypt and grown greatly. The children of Israel multiplied and became numerous and strong, filling the land.

But then a new Pharaoh arose in Egypt who did not know Joseph. He looked at the people of Israel and became afraid. He said to his people:

"Look, the Israelites are more numerous and stronger than we are. We must deal shrewdly with them, or they will multiply even more."

So Pharaoh enslaved the people of Israel. He set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. The Israelites built cities, made bricks, and worked in the fields under the hot sun. It was hard, cruel work.

But the more the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites, the more they multiplied and grew. This made Pharaoh even more worried. Then he gave a terrible order:

It was a cruel order. Pharaoh wanted to put an end to the people of Israel by killing all the baby boys.

There was a man and a woman from the tribe of Levi who had a baby boy. When the mother saw what a beautiful baby he was, she hid him for three months. She loved her baby and did not want him to die. All that time she kept him hidden at home, hushing his cries, afraid that Pharaoh's soldiers would hear him.

But babies grow, and it became harder and harder to hide him. The mother knew that soon the secret would be impossible to keep. Then she had an idea. She took a basket of reeds and coated it with tar and pitch so no water could get in, like a little boat. She placed the baby inside the basket and set it among the reeds at the edge of the Nile River.

The baby's sister, named Miriam, stayed at a distance to see what would happen to him. She hid among the plants, watching the basket float gently in the shallow water.

That morning, Pharaoh's daughter came down to the Nile to bathe. Her servants walked along the riverbank. Suddenly she saw the basket among the reeds.

"Bring that to me," she said to one of her servants.

The servant fetched the basket and brought it to the princess. When Pharaoh's daughter opened it, she saw a crying baby, and her heart filled with compassion.

"This is one of the Hebrew boys," she said.

She knew about her father's cruel order. But looking at that little crying baby, she could not bring herself to harm him.

It was then that Miriam, the baby's sister, found the courage to come closer. She stepped out of her hiding place and asked Pharaoh's daughter:

"Shall I go and call a Hebrew woman to nurse and raise this boy for you?"

"Go," said Pharaoh's daughter.

Miriam ran home and brought the baby's own mother. Pharaoh's daughter said to her:

"Take this boy and raise him for me, and I will pay you."

The mother took the boy and cared for him. Now she no longer had to hide him. She was being paid by Pharaoh's daughter to look after her own son.

When the boy grew older, his mother brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him as her own son. She named him Moses, saying: "Because I drew him out of the water."

Moses grew up in Pharaoh's palace as a prince of Egypt. He had the best clothes, the best food, the best teachers. He learned to read and write, studied mathematics and science, and was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. But his mother had told him the truth when he was little. Moses knew he was a Hebrew, knew his people were enslaved, and kept it in his heart.

God had saved Moses from the waters of the Nile. The baby Pharaoh had wanted to kill was growing up right under his nose, inside his own palace. And God was preparing Moses for something very special. One day, he would be the leader God would use to free all the people of Israel from slavery.

Pharaoh's order was to kill every Hebrew baby boy. But God turned that terrible situation into something good. What should have been Moses' death became his salvation.

The brave mother who hid her baby. The watchful sister who kept an eye on the basket. The kind princess who took pity on the child. All of it was part of God's plan. Sometimes things look impossible, but God can do wonderful things even when everything seems lost. He cared for Moses from the time he was a tiny baby, and he would keep caring for him all his life.

And Moses' story was only beginning. That baby saved from the waters would grow up to become one of the greatest leaders in history, the man God chose to set his people free.