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
Oppression in Egypt
1Now these are the names of Bnei-Yisrael who came into Egypt with Jacob, each man with his family:
2Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;
3Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;
4Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
5The souls that came out of the line of Jacob numbered 70 in all, while Joseph was already in Egypt.
6Then Joseph died, as did all his brothers and all that generation.
7Yet Bnei-Yisrael were fruitful, increased abundantly, multiplied and grew extremely numerous—so the land was filled with them.
8Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
9He said to his people, “Look, the people of Bnei-Yisrael are too numerous and too powerful for us.
10Come, we must deal shrewdly with them, or else they will grow even more numerous, so that if war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and then escape from the land.”
11So they set slave masters over them to afflict them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Raamses as storage cities for Pharaoh.
12But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread. So the Egyptians dreaded the presence of Bnei-Yisrael.
13They worked them harshly,
14and made their lives bitter with hard labor with mortar and brick, doing all sorts of work in the fields. In all their labors they worked them with cruelty.
15Moreover the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,
16and said, “When you help the Hebrew women during childbirth, look at the sex. If it’s a son, then kill him, but if it’s a daughter, she may live.”
17Yet the midwives feared God, so they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the boys live.
18So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this—let the boys live?”
19The midwives told Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women. They are like animals, and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
20So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, growing very numerous.
21Because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.
22But Pharaoh charged all his people saying, “You are to cast every son that is born into the river, but let every daughter live.”
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