²³When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. ²⁴And when he saw one of them being mistreated, Moses went to his defense and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian who was oppressing him. ²⁵He assumed his brothers would understand that God was using him to deliver them, but they did not. ²⁶The next day he came upon two Israelites who were fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’ ²⁷But the man who was abusing his neighbor pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? ²⁸Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹At this remark, Moses fled to the land of Midian, where he lived as a foreigner and had two sons.