Exodus 1
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,
3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
5 All the people descended from Jacob numbered seventy, and Joseph was already in Egypt.
6 Joseph died, and so did all his brothers and that whole generation.
7 The Israelites were fruitful, swarmed, multiplied, and grew exceedingly strong; the land was filled with them.
8 Then a new king arose over Egypt, one who had not known Joseph.
9 He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and stronger than we are.
10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, so they will not multiply. If war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the land.”
11 So they appointed taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. The people built the store cities of Pithom and Raamses for Pharaoh.
12 But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread; the Egyptians were filled with dread because of the Israelites.
13 The Egyptians forced the Israelites to work harshly.
14 They made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and with every kind of fieldwork—all the work they forced them to do was harsh.
15 The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah.
16 He said, “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, watch the birth stool: if it is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.”
17 But the midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.
18 The king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”
19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; they are vigorous. Before the midwife can get to them, they have already given birth.”
20 God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very strong.
21 Because the midwives feared God, he established families for them.
22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every boy who is born, throw him into the Nile; but let every girl live.”
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