Exodus 1:8–2:10

⁸Then a new king came to power in Egypt. He didn’t know anything about Joseph.

⁹“Look,” he said to his people. “The Israelites are far too many for us. ¹⁰Come. We must deal with them carefully. If we don’t, they will increase their numbers even more. Then if war breaks out, they’ll join our enemies. They’ll fight against us and leave the country.”

¹¹So the Egyptians put slave drivers over the people of Israel. The slave drivers beat them down and made them work hard. The Israelites built the cities of Pithom and Rameses so Pharaoh could store things there.

¹²But the more the slave drivers beat them down, the more the Israelites increased their numbers and spread out. So the Egyptians became afraid of them. ¹³They made them work hard. They didn’t show them any pity. ¹⁴They made them suffer with hard labor. They forced them to work with bricks and mud. And they made them do all kinds of work in the fields. The Egyptians didn’t show them any pity at all. They made them work very hard.

¹⁵There were two Hebrew women named Shiphrah and Puah. They helped other women who were having babies. The king of Egypt spoke to them. He said, ¹⁶“You are the ones who help the other Hebrew women. Watch them when they get into a sitting position to have their babies. Kill the boys. Let the girls live.”

¹⁷But Shiphrah and Puah had respect for God. They didn’t do what the king of Egypt had told them to do. They let the boys live.

¹⁸Then the king of Egypt sent for the women. He asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

¹⁹The women answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like the women of Egypt. They are strong. They have their babies before we get there.”

²⁰So God was kind to Shiphrah and Puah. And the people of Israel increased their numbers more and more. ²¹Shiphrah and Puah had respect for God. So he gave them families of their own.

²²Then Pharaoh gave an order to all of his people. He said, “You must throw every baby boy into the Nile River. But let every baby girl live.”

Moses Is Born

2A man and a woman from the tribe of Levi got married. ²She became pregnant and had a son by him. She saw that her baby was a fine child. So she hid him for three months.

³After that, she couldn’t hide him any longer. So she got a basket that was made out of the stems of tall grass. She coated it with tar. Then she placed the child in it. She put the basket in the tall grass that grew along the bank of the Nile River. ⁴The child’s sister wasn’t very far away. She wanted to see what would happen to him.

⁵Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile River to take a bath. Her attendants were walking along the bank of the river. She saw the basket in the tall grass. So she sent her female slave to get it.

⁶When she opened it, she saw the baby. He was crying. She felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

⁷Then his sister spoke to Pharaoh’s daughter. She asked, “Do you want me to go and get one of the Hebrew women? She could nurse the baby for you.”

⁸“Yes. Go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother.

⁹Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby. Nurse him for me. I’ll pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.

¹⁰When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter. And he became her son. She named him Moses. She said, “I pulled him out of the water.”