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Exodus 1:15

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1:15The king of Egypt said40 to the Hebrew midwives,41 one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,42

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Footnotes

  1. 40 Heb “and the king of Egypt said.”
  2. 41 The word for “midwife” is simply the Piel participle of the verb יָלַד (yalad, “to give birth”). So these were women who assisted in the childbirth process. It seems probable that given the number of the Israelites in the passage, these two women could not have been the only Hebrew midwives, but they may have been over the midwives (Rashi). Moreover, the and do not take “Hebrew” as an adjective, but as a genitive after the construct, yielding “midwives of/over the Hebrews.” This leaves open the possibility that these women were not Hebrews. This would solve the question of how the king ever expected Hebrew midwives to kill Hebrew children. And yet, the two women have Hebrew names.
  3. 42 Heb “who the name of the first [was] Shiphrah, and the name of the second [was] Puah.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,

NIVNew International Version (2011)

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,

CSBChristian Standard Bible

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives—the first, whose name was Shiphrah, and the second, whose name was Puah—

NLTNew Living Translation

Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah:

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives—of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah and the name of the second was Puah—

KJV 1900King James Version

And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: