Exodus 1:10–22

¹⁰“Come, let us ^adeal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and ¹in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and ²depart from the land.”

¹¹So they appointed ^ataskmasters over them to afflict them with ^1bhard labor. And they built for Pharaoh ^cstorage cities, Pithom and ^dRaamses.

¹²But the more they afflicted them, ^athe more they multiplied and the more they ¹spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.

¹³The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel ^ato labor rigorously;

¹⁴and they made ^atheir lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously ¹imposed on them.

¹⁵Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom ¹was named Shiphrah and the other was named Puah;

¹⁶and he said, “When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, ^aif it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”

¹⁷But the midwives ^1afeared God, and ^bdid not do as the king of Egypt had ²commanded them, but let the boys live.

¹⁸So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?”

¹⁹The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife ¹can get to them.”

²⁰So ^aGod was good to the midwives, and ^bthe people multiplied, and became very ¹mighty.

²¹Because the midwives ^1afeared God, He ^2bestablished ³households for them.

²²Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “^aEvery son who is born ¹you are to cast into ^bthe Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.”