Exodus 1
1
Jacob’s Descendants in Egypt. 1These are the names of the sons of Israel#Sons of Israel: here literally the first-generation sons of Jacob/Israel. Cf. v. 5. However, beginning with v. 7 the same Hebrew phrase refers to Jacob’s more remote descendants; hence, from there on, it is ordinarily rendered “the Israelites.” Households: the family in its fullest sense, including wives, children and servants. who, accompanied by their households, entered into Egypt with Jacob: 2#Jacob’s sons are listed here according to their respective mothers. Cf. Gn 29:31; 30:20; 35:16–26. Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5The total number of Jacob’s direct descendants#Direct descendants: lit., “persons coming from Jacob’s loins”; hence, wives of Jacob’s sons and servants are not included. Cf. Gn 46:26. Seventy: Gn 46:26, along with the Septuagint for the verse, agrees on a total of sixty-six coming down to Egypt with Jacob, but in v. 27 the Hebrew text adds the two sons born to Joseph in Egypt and presupposes Jacob himself and Joseph for a total of seventy; the Septuagint adds “nine sons” born to Joseph to get a total of seventy-five. This is the figure the Septuagint and 4QExa have here in Ex 1:5. was seventy.#Gn 46:26–27; Dt 10:22; Acts 7:14. Joseph was already in Egypt.
6Now Joseph and all his brothers and that whole generation died.#Gn 50:26. 7But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific. They multiplied and became so very numerous that the land was filled with them.#Fruitful…multiplied…the land was filled with them: the language used here to indicate the fecundity of the Israelite population echoes the divine blessing bestowed upon humanity at creation (Gn 1:28) and after the flood (Gn 9:1) as well as suggesting fulfillment of the promises to the ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Gn 12:2; 13:16; 15:5; 28:14; passim).
The Oppression. 8#Acts 7:18–19. Then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph,#Who knew nothing of Joseph: the nuance intended by the Hebrew verb “know” here goes beyond precise determination. The idea may be not simply that a new king came to power who had not heard of Joseph but that this king ignored the services that Joseph had rendered to Egypt, repudiating the special relationship that existed between Joseph and his predecessor on the throne. rose to power in Egypt. 9He said to his people, “See! The Israelite people have multiplied and become more numerous than we are! 10Come, let us deal shrewdly with them to stop their increase;#Increase: Pharaoh’s actions thereby immediately pit him against God’s will for the Israelites to multiply; see note on v. 7 above. otherwise, in time of war they too may join our enemies to fight against us, and so leave the land.”
11Accordingly, they set supervisors over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor.#Dt 26:6. Thus they had to build for Pharaoh#Pharaoh: not a personal name, but a title common to all the kings of Egypt. the garrison cities of Pithom and Raamses. 12Yet the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians began to loathe the Israelites. 13So the Egyptians reduced the Israelites to cruel slavery, 14making life bitter for them with hard labor, at mortar#Mortar: either the wet clay with which the bricks were made, as in Na 3:14, or the cement used between the bricks in building, as in Gn 11:3. and brick and all kinds of field work—cruelly oppressed in all their labor.
Command to the Midwives. 15The king of Egypt told the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was called Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16“When you act as midwives for the Hebrew women, look on the birthstool:#Birthstool: apparently a pair of stones on which the mother is seated for childbirth opposite the midwife. The Hebrew word elsewhere is used to refer to the stones of a potter’s wheel. if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she may live.” 17The midwives, however, feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt had ordered them, but let the boys live. 18So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this, allowing the boys to live?” 19The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are robust and give birth before the midwife arrives.” 20Therefore God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and grew very numerous. 21And because the midwives feared God, God built up families for them. 22Pharaoh then commanded all his people, “Throw into the Nile every boy that is born,#Acts 7:19. but you may let all the girls live.”
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Exodus 1
1
1And these [are] the names of the sons of Israel who are coming into Egypt with Jacob; a man and his household have they come;
2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,
3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
4Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
5And all the persons coming out of the thigh of Jacob are seventy persons; as to Joseph, he was in Egypt.
6And Joseph dieth, and all his brethren, and all that generation;
7and the sons of Israel have been fruitful, and they teem, and multiply, and are very very mighty, and the land is filled with them.
8And there riseth a new king over Egypt, who hath not known Joseph,
9and he saith unto his people, ‘Lo, the people of the sons of Israel [is] more numerous and mighty than we;
10give help! let us act wisely concerning it, lest it multiply, and it hath come to pass, when war happeneth, that it hath been joined, even it, unto those hating us, and hath fought against us, and hath gone out up of the land.’
11And they set over it princes of tribute, so as to afflict it with their burdens, and it buildeth store-cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses;
12and as they afflict it, so it multiplieth, and so it breaketh forth, and they are vexed because of the sons of Israel;
13and the Egyptians cause the sons of Israel to serve with rigour,
14and make their lives bitter in hard service, in clay, and in brick, and in every [kind] of service in the field; all their service in which they have served [is] with rigour.
15And the king of Egypt speaketh to the midwives, the Hebrewesses, (of whom the name of the one [is] Shiphrah, and the name of the second Puah),
16and saith, ‘When ye cause the Hebrew women to bear, and have looked on the children; if it [is] a son — then ye have put him to death; and if it [is] a daughter — then she hath lived.’
17And the midwives fear God, and have not done as the king of Egypt hath spoken unto them, and keep the lads alive;
18and the king of Egypt calleth for the midwives, and saith to them, ‘Wherefore have ye done this thing, and keep the lads alive?’
19And the midwives say unto Pharaoh, ‘Because the Hebrew women [are] not as the Egyptian women, for they [are] lively; before the midwife cometh in unto them — they have borne!’
20And God doth good to the midwives, and the people multiply, and are very mighty;
21and it cometh to pass, because the midwives have feared God, that He maketh for them households;
22and Pharaoh layeth a charge on all his people, saying, ‘Every son who is born — into the River ye do cast him, and every daughter ye do keep alive.’
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