Êxodo 1

¹ Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt; each man and his house came with Jacob:

² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;

³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;

⁴ Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

⁵ All those who came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls (for Joseph was in Egypt already).

⁶ And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation.

⁷ And the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly numerous; and the land was filled with them.

⁸ And there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

⁹ And he said to his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more numerous and vast than we.

¹⁰ Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and thus go up out of the land.

¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses.

¹² But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel.

¹³ So the Egyptians made the children of Israel work with harshness.

¹⁴ And they made their lives bitter with hard labor; in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of labor in the field. All their labor in which they made them work was with harshness.

¹⁵ And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah,

¹⁶ and he said: When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.

¹⁷ But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.

¹⁸ And the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?

¹⁹ And the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives come to them.

²⁰ Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew exceedingly numerous.

²¹ And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided houses for them.

²² And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.