Exodus 1
1
1-5These are the names of the Israelites who went to Egypt with Jacob, each bringing his family members:
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,
Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
Seventy persons in all generated by Jacob’s seed. Joseph was already in Egypt.
6-7Then Joseph died, and all his brothers—that whole generation. But the children of Israel kept on reproducing. They were very prolific—a population explosion in their own right—and the land was filled with them.
“A New King . . . Who Didn’t Know Joseph”
8-10A new king came to power in Egypt who didn’t know Joseph. He spoke to his people with alarm, “There are way too many of these Israelites for us to handle. We’ve got to do something: Let’s devise a plan to contain them, lest if there’s a war they should join our enemies, or just walk off and leave us.”
11-14So they organized them into work-gangs and put them to hard labor under gang-foremen. They built the storage cities Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. But the harder the Egyptians worked them the more children the Israelites had—children everywhere! The Egyptians got so they couldn’t stand the Israelites and treated them worse than ever, crushing them with slave labor. They made them miserable with hard labor—making bricks and mortar and back-breaking work in the fields. They piled on the work, crushing them under the cruel workload.
15-16The king of Egypt had a talk with the two Hebrew midwives; one was named Shiphrah and the other Puah. He said, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the sex of the baby. If it’s a boy, kill him; if it’s a girl, let her live.”
17-18But the midwives had far too much respect for God and didn’t do what the king of Egypt ordered; they let the boy babies live. The king of Egypt called in the midwives. “Why didn’t you obey my orders? You’ve let those babies live!”
19The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; they’re vigorous. Before the midwife can get there, they’ve already had the baby.”
20-21God was pleased with the midwives. The people continued to increase in number—a very strong people. And because the midwives honored God, God gave them families of their own.
22So Pharaoh issued a general order to all his people: “Every boy that is born, drown him in the Nile. But let the girls live.”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Exodus 1
1
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel, who went into Egypt with Jacob. They entered, each one with his house:
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,
3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
5 Therefore, all the souls of those who went forth from Jacob's thigh were seventy. Now Joseph was in Egypt.
6 When he had died, along with all of his brothers and all of that generation,
7 the sons of Israel increased, and they multiplied like seedlings. And having been strengthened exceedingly, they filled the land.
8 Meanwhile, there arose a new king over Egypt, who was ignorant of Joseph.
9 And he said to his people: "Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are many, and they are stronger than we are.
10 Come, let us wisely oppress them, lest they multiply; and if any war should advance against us, they may be added to our enemies, and having fought against us, they might depart from the land."
11 And so he set over them masters of the works, in order to afflict them with burdens. And they built for Pharaoh the cities of the tabernacles: Pithom and Raamses.
12 And the more they oppressed them, so much more did they multiply and increase.
13 And the Egyptians hated the sons of Israel, and they afflicted them and mocked them.
14 And they led their life directly into bitterness, with hard work in clay and brick, and with all kinds of servitude, so that they were being overwhelmed with the works of the land.
15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the midwives of the Hebrews, (one of whom one was called Shiphrah, another Puah)
16 instructing them: "When you will act as a midwife to the Hebrew women, and the time of delivery has arrived: if it is male, put it to death; if it is female, retain it."
17 But the midwives feared God, and so they did not act according to the precept of the king of Egypt, but they kept the males safe.
18 And summoning them, the king said, "What did you intend to do, so that you would save the boys?"
19 They responded: "The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. For they themselves have the wisdom of a midwife, and so they give birth before we can come to them."
20 Therefore, God acted favorably toward the midwives. And the people increased, and they were strengthened exceedingly.
21 And because the midwives feared God, he built houses for them.
22 Therefore, Pharaoh instructed all his people, saying: "Whatever will be born of the male sex, cast it into the river; whatever will be born of the female sex, retain it."
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