1:1T hese are the names of the sons of Israel who, accompanied by their households, migrated with Jacob into Egypt:
1:2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;
1:3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;
1:4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.
1:5 The total number of the direct descendants of Jacob was seventy. Joseph was already in Egypt.
1:6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and that whole generation died.
1:7 But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific. They became so numerous and strong that the land was filled with them.
1:8 Then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph , came to power in Egypt.
1:9 He said to his subjects, "Look how numerous and powerful the Israelite people are growing, more so than we ourselves!
1:10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them to stop their increase; otherwise, in time of war they too may join our enemies to fight against us, and so leave our country."
1:11 Accordingly, taskmasters were set over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. Thus they had to build for Pharaoh the supply cities of Pithom and Raamses.
1:12 Yet the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. The Egyptians, then, dreaded the Israelites
1:13 and reduced them to cruel slavery,
1:14 making life bitter for them with hard work in mortar and brick and all kinds of field work ?the whole cruel fate of slaves.
1:15 The king of Egypt told the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was called Shiphrah and the other Puah,
1:16 "When you act as midwives for the Hebrew women and see them giving birth, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she may live."
1:17 The midwives, however, feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt had ordered them, but let the boys live.
1:18 So the king summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you acted thus, allowing the boys to live?"
1:19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, "The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are robust and give birth before the midwife arrives."
1:20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives. The people, too, increased and grew strong.
1:21 And because the midwives feared God, he built up families for them.
1:22 Pharaoh then commanded all his subjects, "Throw into the river every boy that is born to the Hebrews, but you may let all the girls live."