Exodus 1

¹Exodus 1:1. These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:²Exodus 1:2. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;³Exodus 1:3. Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;⁴Exodus 1:4. Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.⁵Exodus 1:5. The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt.⁶Exodus 1:6. Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,⁷Exodus 1:7. but the Israelites were fruitful and increased rapidly; they multiplied and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.⁸Exodus 1:8. Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt.⁹Exodus 1:9. “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become too numerous and too powerful for us.¹⁰Exodus 1:10. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase even more; and if a war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”¹¹Exodus 1:11. So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.¹²Exodus 1:12. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.¹³Exodus 1:13. They worked the Israelites ruthlessly¹⁴Exodus 1:14. and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. Every service they imposed was harsh.¹⁵Exodus 1:15. Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,¹⁶Exodus 1:16. “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.”¹⁷Exodus 1:17. The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live.¹⁸Exodus 1:18. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”¹⁹Exodus 1:19. The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before a midwife arrives.”²⁰Exodus 1:20. So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous.²¹Exodus 1:21. And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.²²Exodus 1:22. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”