Jochebed

Jochebed is a daughter of Levi, the wife of Amram, and mother of Miriam, Aaron, and Moses.

Wife of Amram, Mother of Miriam, Aaron, and Moses

The genealogy of Levi names her by name: "And Amram took himself Jochebed his father's sister as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were a hundred and thirty and seven years" (Ex 6:20). The wilderness census expands the line: "And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt: and she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister" (Nu 26:59).

Hides and Nurses Moses

The early chapter of Exodus tells, without naming her, of the same daughter of Levi who hides her newborn son and is then summoned to nurse him: "And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took as wife the daughter of Levi. And the woman became pregnant, and gave birth to a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with bitumen and with pitch; and she put the child in it, and laid it in the flags by the river's brink. And his sister stood far off, to know what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river; and her maidens walked along by the riverside; and she saw the ark among the flags, and sent her female slave to fetch it. And she opened it, and saw the child: and, look, the baby wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call you a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the young woman went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it" (Ex 2:1-9).