Exodus 1
1
1And these are the names of the sons of Israel who had come into Egypt; with Jacob had they come, each with his household: 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5And all the souls that had come out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls; and Joseph was in Egypt. 6And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. 7And the children of Israel were fruitful, and swarmed and multiplied, and became exceeding strong; and the land was full of them.
8And there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9And he said to his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more numerous and stronger than we. 10Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that, if war occur, they take side with our enemies and fight against us, and go up out of the land. 11And they set over them service-masters to oppress them with their burdens. And they built store-cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Rameses. 12But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and spread; and they were distressed because of the children of Israel. 13And the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with harshness; 14and they embittered their life with hard labour in clay and bricks, and in all manner of labour in the field: all their labour with which they made them serve was with harshness.
15And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives — of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other was Puah — 16and he said, When ye help the Hebrew women in bearing, and see them on the stool, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him, but if a daughter, then she shall live. 17But the midwives feared God#GodHebrew: Elohim and did not as the king of Egypt had said to them, but saved the male children alive. 18And the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, Why have ye done this, and saved the male children alive? 19And the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian; for they are strong, and they have borne before the midwife comes to them. 20And God#GodHebrew: Elohim dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. 21And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God#GodHebrew: Elohim that he made them houses. 22Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, but every daughter ye shall save alive.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Exodus 1
1
The people of Israel become slaves
The people of Israel suffer
1-5When Jacob went to Egypt, his son Joseph was already there. So Jacob took his eleven other sons and their families. They were: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. Altogether, Jacob had seventy children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren#1.1-5 seventy children…great-grandchildren: See Genesis 46.8-27. who went with him.#Gn 46.8-27.
6After Joseph, his brothers, and everyone else in that generation had died, 7the people of Israel became so numerous that the whole region of Goshen was full of them.#Ac 7.17.
8Many years later a new king came to power. He did not know what Joseph had done for Egypt,#Ac 7.18. 9and he told the Egyptians:
There are too many of those Israelites in our country, and they are becoming more powerful than we are. 10If we don't outsmart them, their families will keep growing larger. And if our country goes to war, they could easily fight on the side of our enemies and escape from Egypt.#Ac 7.19.
11The Egyptians put slave bosses in charge of the people of Israel and tried to wear them down with hard work. Those bosses forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses,#1.11 Pithom and Rameses: This is the only mention of Pithom in the Bible; its exact location is unknown, though it was probably in the northern Delta of Egypt. Rameses is the famous Delta city that was the home of Rameses II; its exact location is also unknown. where the king#1.11 the king: The Hebrew text has “Pharaoh”, a Hebrew word sometimes used for the title of the king of Egypt. could store his supplies. 12But even though the Israelites were ill-treated, their families grew larger, and they took over more land. Because of this, the Egyptians hated them more than before 13and made them work so hard 14that their lives were miserable. The Egyptians were cruel to the people of Israel and forced them to make bricks and to mix mortar and to work in the fields.
15Finally, the king called in Shiphrah and Puah, the two women who helped the Hebrew#1.15 Hebrew: An earlier term for “Israelite”. mothers when they gave birth. 16He told them, “If a Hebrew woman gives birth to a girl, let the child live. If the baby is a boy, kill him!”
17But the two women were faithful to God and did not kill the boys, even though the king had told them to. 18The king called them in again and asked, “Why are you letting those baby boys live?”
19They answered, “Hebrew women have their babies much quicker than Egyptian women. By the time we arrive, their babies are already born.” 20-21God was good to the two women because they truly respected him, and he blessed them with children of their own.
The Hebrews kept increasing 22until finally, the king gave a command to everyone in the nation, “As soon as a Hebrew boy is born, throw him into the River Nile! But you can let the girls live.”#Ac 7.19.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012