'Bird' (tsippor, a small bird) — a daughter of the priest of Midian, given to Moses as his wife (Exodus 2:21), mother of his sons Gershom and Eliezer. She reappears in one of the strangest, starkest scenes in the Torah: on the road back to Egypt, when Jehovah 'sought to kill' Moses (over the uncircumcised son), it is Zipporah who acts — she takes a flint, circumcises the boy, touches Moses' feet with the foreskin and calls him 'a bridegroom of blood to me,' and the danger passes (Exodus 4:24-26). A Midianite woman performs the covenant sign that saves the covenant mediator's life. (Numbers 12 records Miriam and Aaron murmuring against Moses over his 'Cushite wife' — whether Zipporah or another is debated.)