Exodus 18:3

WEB

and her two sons. The name of one son was Gershom, for Moses said, "I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land".

KJV

And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land:

Commentary

And her two sons,.... Those also Jethro took along with him and his daughter: of which the name of the one was Gershom; which seems to be his first born, Exo 2:22 , his name signifies a desolate stranger, as some, or, "there I was a stranger": the reason of which name follows agreeably thereunto: for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land; meaning, not the land of Egypt, where he was born, and had lived forty years; but in the land of Midian, where he was when this son of his was born; and which name was given him partly to keep up the memory of his flight to Midian, and partly to instruct his son, that Midian, though his native place, was not his proper country where he was to dwell, but another, even the land of Canaan.