Exodus 1

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt with Jacob their father — each of them came in with his whole household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 But Joseph was already in Egypt. And all the souls born of Jacob were seventy-five. [a] 6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and that whole generation. 7 But the children of Israel grew and multiplied. They spread out and became very, very strong, and the land multiplied them.

8 Then another king rose up over Egypt, one who did not know Joseph. 9 He said to his nation, “Look — the race of the children of Israel is a great multitude, and they are stronger than we are. 10 Come then, let us outwit them, or they will go on multiplying; and if war ever comes upon us, they will join our enemies as well, and once they have beaten us they will march out of the land.” 11 So he set taskmasters over them to wear them down with hard labor. And they built fortified cities for Pharaoh — Pithom, and Rameses, and On, which is Heliopolis. [b] 12 But the more the Egyptians humbled them, the more they multiplied and the stronger they grew; and the Egyptians came to loathe the children of Israel. 13 So the Egyptians ground the children of Israel down by force, 14 and made their lives bitter with hard work — with clay and brickmaking and every kind of work in the fields — all the work they drove them to with violence.

15 Then the king of the Egyptians spoke to the midwives of the Hebrews. One of them was named Shiphrah, and the name of the second was Puah. [c] 16 He said, “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and they are about to give birth — if it is a boy, kill it; but if it is a girl, let it live.” 17 But the midwives feared God, and they did not do what the king of Egypt had ordered them. They kept the boys alive. 18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives in and said to them, “Why have you done this and kept the boys alive?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the women of Egypt. They give birth before the midwives can reach them.” And so they went on bearing children. 20 And God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God, they made households for themselves. [d] 22 Then Pharaoh charged all his people: “Every boy born to the Hebrews — throw him into the river; but every girl, let her live.”