Exodus 1

The Israelites Are Treated Cruelly in Egypt

1^*The sons of Jacob who went to Egypt with him, each with his family, were ^2*Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, ^3*Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, ^4*Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. ⁵The total number of these people directly descended from Jacob was 70.^a His son Joseph was already in Egypt. ⁶In the course of time Joseph, his brothers, and all the rest of that generation died, ^7*but their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and became so numerous and strong that Egypt was filled with them.

^8*Then, a new king, who knew nothing about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. ⁹He said to his people, “These Israelites are so numerous and strong that they are a threat to us. ^10*In case of war they might join our enemies in order to fight against us, and might escape from^b the country. We must find some way to keep them from becoming even more numerous.” ¹¹So the Egyptians put slave-drivers over them to crush their spirits with hard labour. The Israelites built the cities of Pithom and Rameses to serve as supply centres for the king. ¹²But the more the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites, the more they increased in number and the further they spread through the land. The Egyptians came to fear the Israelites ^13–14and made their lives miserable by forcing them into cruel slavery. They made them work on their building projects and in their fields, and they had no mercy on them.

¹⁵Then the king of Egypt spoke to Shiphrah and Puah, the two midwives who helped the Hebrew women. ¹⁶“When you help the Hebrew women give birth,” he said to them, “kill the baby if it is a boy; but if it is a girl, let it live.” ¹⁷But the midwives feared God and so did not obey the king; instead, they let the boys live. ¹⁸So the king sent for the midwives and asked them, “Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the boys live?”

¹⁹They answered, “The Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they give birth easily, and their babies are born before either of us gets there.” ^20–21Because the midwives feared God, he was good to them and gave them families of their own. And the Israelites continued to increase and become strong. ^22*Finally the king issued a command to all his people: “Take every newborn Hebrew boy and throw him into the Nile, but let all the girls live.”