Exodus 1
1
Jacob’s Family in Egypt
1When Jacob (Israel) went to Egypt, his sons and their families went with him. Here are the names of those sons: 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, 3Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, 4Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5Another son, Joseph, was already in Egypt. So Jacob’s whole family was with him in Egypt—70 descendants in all.
6Later, Joseph, his brothers, and all the people of that generation died. 7But the Israelites had many children, and their number grew until the country of Egypt was filled with them.
Trouble for the Israelites
8Then a new king began to rule Egypt. He did not know Joseph. 9This king said to his people, “Look at the Israelites. There are too many of them, and they are stronger than we are! 10We must make plans to stop them from growing stronger. If there is a war, they might join our enemies, defeat us, and escape from the land!”
11The Egyptians decided to make life hard for the Israelites, so they put slave masters over the people. These masters forced the Israelites to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses for the king. The king used these cities to store grain and other things.
12The Egyptians forced the Israelites to work harder and harder. But the harder they worked, the more they grew and spread, and the more the Egyptians became afraid of them. 13So the Egyptians made them work even harder.
14They made life hard for the Israelites. They forced the Israelites to work hard at making bricks and mortar and to work hard in the fields. The Egyptians showed no mercy in all the hard work they made the Israelites do!
The Nurses Who Followed God
15There were two Hebrew#1:15 Hebrew Or “Israelite.” This name might also mean “descendants of Eber” (read Gen. 10:25–31) or “people from beyond the Euphrates River.” Also in verse 19. nurses who helped the Israelite women give birth. They were named Shiphrah and Puah. The king of Egypt said to the nurses, 16“You will continue to help the Hebrew women give birth to their children. If a girl baby is born, let the baby live. But if the baby is a boy, you must kill him!”
17But the nurses trusted#1:17 trusted Literally, “feared” or “respected.” Also in verses 20-21. God, so they did not obey the king’s command. They let all the baby boys live.
18The king of Egypt called for the nurses and asked them, “Why did you do this? Why did you let the baby boys live?”
19The nurses said to the king, “The Hebrew women are much stronger than the Egyptian women. They give birth to their babies before we can go to help them.” 20-21The nurses trusted God, so he was good to them and allowed them to have their own families.
The Hebrews continued to have more children, and they became very strong. 22So Pharaoh gave this command to his own people: “If the Hebrew women give birth to a baby girl, let it live. But if they have a baby boy, you must throw it into the Nile River.”
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Exodus 1
1
Israel Oppressed
1#Ge 46:8–26; 35:23–26Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, which came into Egypt (each man and his household came with Jacob): 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5#Ge 46:26–27; Dt 10:22All the people who came from the seed of Jacob were seventy people, but Joseph was in Egypt already.
6#Ge 50:26Joseph died, as did all his brothers, and all that generation. 7#Ge 46:3; Dt 26:5Nevertheless, the sons of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty,#Or numerous; also in v. 20. so that the land was filled with them.
8#Ac 7:18Now there rose up a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9#Ps 105:24–25He said to his people, “Surely, the people of the sons of Israel are more numerous and powerful than we. 10#Ac 7:19; Ps 83:3–4Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that when any war breaks out, they also join our enemies, and fight against us, and escape from the land.”
11#Ge 15:13; 47:11Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their labor. They built for Pharaoh storage cities: Pithom and Rameses. 12But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew so that as a result they abhorred the sons of Israel. 13The Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor, 14#Ex 2:23; 6:9and they made their lives bitter with hard service—in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.
15The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah, 16and he said, “When you perform the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the stools, if it is a son, then you must kill him, but if it is a daughter, then she may live.” 17#Ac 5:29; Pr 16:6; Da 3:16–18However, the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but kept the male children alive. 18The king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing and preserved the male children’s lives?”
19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives come to them.”
20#Ex 1:12; Pr 11:18Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. 21#1Sa 2:35; 1Ki 11:38So it happened that because the midwives feared God, He gave them families.
22#Ac 7:19Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, “You must cast every son that is born into the river, and you must preserve every daughter’s life.”
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