Exodus 1:8–2:10

⁸Now there arose a new king over Egypt, ^ewho did not know Joseph. ⁹And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and ^fmightier than we; ^10gcome, let us ^hdeal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” ¹¹Therefore they set taskmasters over them ⁱto afflict them with their ^jburdens. And they built for Pharaoh ^ksupply cities, Pithom ^land Raamses. ¹²But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. ¹³So the Egyptians made the children of Israel ^mserve with ⁴rigor. ¹⁴And they ⁿmade their lives bitter with hard bondage—^oin mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.

¹⁵Then the king of Egypt spoke to the ^pHebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; ¹⁶and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a ^qson, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” ¹⁷But the midwives ^rfeared God, and did not do ^sas the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. ¹⁸So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?”

¹⁹And ^tthe midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they ⁵are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”

^20uTherefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and ⁶grew very mighty. ²¹And so it was, because the midwives feared God, ^vthat He ⁷provided households for them.

²²So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, ^w“Every son who is ⁸born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

Moses is Born

2And ^aa man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. ²So the woman conceived and bore a son. And ^bwhen she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. ³But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of ^cbulrushes for him, daubed it with ^dasphalt and ^epitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds ^fby the river’s bank. ^4gAnd his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.

⁵Then the ^hdaughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. ⁶And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”

⁸And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother. ⁹Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. ¹⁰And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became ⁱher son. So she called his name ¹Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”