And the name of the other refers to the younger son, Eliezer. Literally the name means “My God is help,” but the explanation is expanded. For he said again refers to Moses, who had evidently named the second son as well. He said is not repeated in the Hebrew. The God of my father is Moses speaking. Note that father is singular. (See 3.6 and comment.) Was my help, literally “as my help,” may be rendered as “is my helper” (New American Bible). This allows for Moses to have given the name before he returned to Egypt. Good News Translation has “The God of my father helped me.” The God of my father may also be rendered as “the God whom my father worshiped.”

And delivered me, literally “and he caused me to be rescued,” continues what Moses said when he named the second son. From the sword of Pharaoh is simply a descriptive way of saying “from being killed by the king of Egypt” (Good News Translation). An alternative model is “who saved me from the king of Egypt, who intended to kill me.” This is the end of the flashback that began with verse 2.

By interpreting verses 2-4 as a flashback (see comment at verse 2), it is possible to restructure them with or without parentheses, in a way similar to that of Contemporary English Version, as follows:

• In the meantime Moses had sent his wife Zipporah and her two sons to stay with Jethro, who welcomed them. Moses was still a foreigner in Midian when his first son was born, and so Moses said, “I will name him Gershom.” When his second son was born, Moses said, “I will name him Eliezer, because the God my father worshiped has saved me from the King of Egypt, who planned to kill me.”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .