Exodus 1
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1These are the names of the Israelites who came to Egypt with Jacob along with their households: 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5The total number in Jacob’s family was seventy. Joseph was already in Egypt. 6Eventually, Joseph, his brothers, and everyone in his generation died. 7But the Israelites were fertile and became populous. They multiplied and grew dramatically, filling the whole land.
Israel is oppressed
8Now a new king came to power in Egypt who didn’t know Joseph. 9He said to his people, “The Israelite people are now larger in number and stronger than we are. 10Come on, let’s be smart and deal with them. Otherwise, they will only grow in number. And if war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and then escape from the land.” 11As a result, the Egyptians put foremen of forced work gangs over the Israelites to harass them with hard work. They had to build storage cities named Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they grew and spread, so much so that the Egyptians started to look at the Israelites with disgust and dread. 13So the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites. 14They made their lives miserable with hard labor, making mortar and bricks, doing field work, and by forcing them to do all kinds of other cruel work.
15The king of Egypt spoke to two Hebrew midwives named Shiphrah and Puah: 16“When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth and you see the baby being born, if it’s a boy, kill him. But if it’s a girl, you can let her live.” 17Now the two midwives respected God so they didn’t obey the Egyptian king’s order. Instead, they let the baby boys live.
18So the king of Egypt called the two midwives and said to them, “Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the baby boys live?”
19The two midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because Hebrew women aren’t like Egyptian women. They’re much stronger and give birth before any midwives can get to them.” 20So God treated the midwives well, and the people kept on multiplying and became very strong. 21And because the midwives respected God, God gave them households of their own.
22Then Pharaoh gave an order to all his people: “Throw every baby boy born to the Hebrews into the Nile River, but you can let all the girls live.”
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Exodus 1: CEB
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Shemoth (Exodus) 1
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1And these are the names of the children of Yisra’ĕl who came to Mitsrayim with Ya‛aqoḇ, each one with his household:
2Re’uḇĕn, Shim‛on, Lĕwi, and Yehuḏah;
3Yissasḵar, Zeḇulun, and Binyamin;
4Dan and Naphtali, Gaḏ and Ashĕr.
5And all those who were descendants of Ya‛aqoḇ were seventy beings, as Yosĕph was already in Mitsrayim.
6And Yosĕph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation.
7And the children of Yisra’ĕl were fruitful and increased very much, multiplied and became very strong, and the land was filled with them.
8Then a new sovereign arose over Mitsrayim, who did not know Yosĕph,
9and he said to his people, “See, the people of the children of Yisra’ĕl are more and stronger than we,
10come, let us act wisely towards them, lest they increase, and it shall be when fighting befalls us, that they shall join our enemies and fight against us, and shall go up out of the land.”
11So they set slave-masters over them to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Ra‛amses.
12But the more they afflicted them, the more they increased and grew, and they were in dread of the children of Yisra’ĕl.
13And the Mitsrites made the children of Yisra’ĕl serve with harshness,
14and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all kinds of work in the field, all their work which they made them do was with harshness.
15Then the sovereign of Mitsrayim spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Pu‛ah,
16and he said, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death, but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
17But the midwives feared Elohim, and did not do as the sovereign of Mitsrayim commanded them, and kept the male children alive.
18So the sovereign of Mitsrayim called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and kept the male children alive?”
19And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Mitsrian women. For they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”
20So Elohim was good to the midwives, and the people increased and became very numerous.
21And it came to be, because the midwives feared Elohim, that He provided households for them.
22And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Throw every son who is born into the river, and keep alive every daughter.”
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