Exodus 1
1
Jacob’s Family Grows Strong
1When Jacob went to Egypt, he took his sons, and each son took his own family with him. These are the names of the sons of Israel: 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, 3Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, 4Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5There was a total of seventy people who were descendants of Jacob. Jacob’s son Joseph was already in Egypt.
6Some time later, Joseph and his brothers died, along with all the people who had lived at that same time. 7But the people of Israel had many children, and their number grew greatly. They became very strong, and the country of Egypt was filled with them.
Trouble for the People of Israel
8Then a new king began to rule Egypt, who did not know who Joseph was. 9This king said to his people, “Look! The people of Israel are too many and too strong for us to handle! 10If we don’t make plans against them, the number of their people will grow even more. Then if there is a war, they might join our enemies and fight us and escape from the country!”
11So the Egyptians made life hard for the Israelites. They put slave masters over them, who forced the Israelites to build the cities Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king. 12But the harder the Egyptians forced the Israelites to work, the more the Israelites grew in number and spread out. So the Egyptians became very afraid of them 13and demanded even more of them. 14They made their lives bitter. They forced the Israelites to work hard to make bricks and mortar and to do all kinds of work in the fields. The Egyptians were not merciful to them in all their painful work.
15Two Hebrew nurses, named Shiphrah and Puah, helped the Israelite women give birth to their babies. The king of Egypt said to the nurses, 16“When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth to their babies, watch! If the baby is a girl, let her live, but if it is a boy, kill him!” 17But the nurses feared God, so they did not do as the king told them; they let all the boy babies live. 18Then the king of Egypt sent for the nurses and said, “Why did you do this? Why did you let the boys live?”
19The nurses said to him, “The Hebrew women are much stronger than the Egyptian women. They give birth to their babies before we can get there.” 20God was good to the nurses. And the Hebrew people continued to grow in number, so they became even stronger. 21Because the nurses feared God, he gave them families of their own.
22So the king commanded all his people, “Every time a boy is born to the Hebrews, you must throw him into the Nile River, but let all the girl babies live.”
Currently Selected:
Exodus 1: NCV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Exodus 1
1
Chapter 1
Israel's family go to Egypt
1Here are the names of the Israelites who went to Egypt with Jacob. #1:1 God gave Jacob a new name, ‘Israel’. See Genesis 32:28; 35:10. So Jacob's descendants were called Israelites. Each one went there with his family.
2Jacob's sons were Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, 3Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin, 4Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5Jacob himself had 70 descendants. His other son, Joseph, was already in Egypt.
6After some time, Joseph died. Joseph's brothers and all his generation also died. 7But the Israelites had many children, so they grew into a very large family. They became very powerful. They were everywhere in the whole country.
8Later, a new king began to rule in Egypt. He did not know anything about Joseph. #1:8 The new king did not know what had happened before. He did not know that Joseph had given food to the Egyptians in a time of famine. See Genesis 37—50. 9He said to his people, ‘Look! The Israelites have become too many for us. They are more powerful than we are. 10We must find a clever way to stop them. If we do nothing, their families will become even bigger. Then, if there is a war, they will join our enemies and they will fight against us. That will give the Israelites a chance to leave our country.’
11So the Egyptians made the Israelites work as their slaves. The Egyptian masters made the Israelites do very hard work. They had to build cities for the king, Pharaoh, where he could store food for his people. The names of the cities were Pithom and Rameses.
12The Egyptians made the Israelites work more and more. But the Israelites still became more in number. They had many children and they lived in every part of the country. Because of this, the Egyptians began to be afraid of them. 13So the Egyptians made the Israelites work without any rest. 14The Israelites became very upset because of all the difficult work. They had to build houses with bricks and mortar. #1:14 ‘mortar’ is a mixture of sand and other materials used to fix bricks together. They also did many different kinds of work in the fields. The Egyptians made the Israelites do all this difficult work.
15There were two Israelite women who helped the other women when they were giving birth. These two women were called Shiphrah and Puah. The king of Egypt said to them, 16‘When you help the Israelite women at the birth of their children, this is what you must do. If she gives birth to a son, kill him. But if the child is a daughter, you may let her live.’
17But the two women respected God. So they did not do what the king of Egypt had told them. They obeyed God and they let the boys live.
18Then the king of Egypt called the two women to come to him. He asked them, ‘Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?’ 19The two women said to Pharaoh, ‘Israelite women are not like Egyptian women. Israelite women are very strong. They give birth to their babies very quickly, before we arrive at the house.’
20Because the two women respected God, he was kind to them. The Israelite people continued to grow in number. They became very strong. 21Because the two women obeyed God, he gave them families of their own.
22Then Pharaoh spoke to all the Egyptian people. He said, ‘When an Israelite boy is born, you must throw him in the river Nile. But you can let the baby girls live.’
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
MissionAssist 2018