1:1 | Now these [are] the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: |
1:2 | Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; |
1:3 | Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; |
1:4 | Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. |
1:5 | All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt [already]). |
1:6 | And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. |
1:7 | But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. |
1:8 | Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. |
1:9 | And he said to his people, "Look, the people of the children of Israel [are] more and mightier than we; |
1:10 | "come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and [so] go up out of the land." |
1:11 | Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. |
1:12 | But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. |
1:13 | So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. |
1:14 | And they made their lives bitter with hard bondagein mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve [was] with rigor. |
1:15 | Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one [was] Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; |
1:16 | and he said, "When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see [them] on the birthstools, if it [is] a son, then you shall kill him; but if it [is] a daughter, then she shall live." |
1:17 | But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. |
1:18 | So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?" |
1:19 | And the midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women [are] not like the Egyptian women; for they [are] lively and give birth before the midwives come to them." |
1:20 | Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. |
1:21 | And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them. |
1:22 | So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive." |