Exodus Chapter 1 (NIV)
undefined
The Israelites OppressedThese are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:
undefined
Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;
undefined
Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;
undefined
Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.
undefined
The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.
undefined
Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,
undefined
but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.
undefined
Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.
undefined
“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become much too numerous for us.
undefined
Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
undefined
So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
undefined
But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites
undefined
and worked them ruthlessly.
undefined
They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly.
undefined
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,
undefined
“When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”
undefined
The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.
undefined
Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
undefined
The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
undefined
So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous.
undefined
And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
undefined
Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
Deepen Your Study
Use AI-powered tools to understand this passage better
Ask AI About This Chapter Search Related Verses