² To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers,^(A) listen to me! The God of glory^(B) appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.^{(C) 3} ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’^[a](D)

⁴ “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living.^{(E) 5} He gave him no inheritance here,^(F) not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land,^(G) even though at that time Abraham had no child. ⁶ God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated.^{(H) 7} But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’^{[b](I) 8} Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision.^(J) And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth.^(K) Later Isaac became the father of Jacob,^(L) and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.^(M)

⁹ “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph,^(N) they sold him as a slave into Egypt.^(O) But God was with him^{(P) 10} and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.^(Q)

¹¹ “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food.^{(R) 12} When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit.^{(S) 13} On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was,^(T) and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family.^{(U) 14} After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family,^(V) seventy-five in all.^{(W) 15} Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died.^{(X) 16} Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.^(Y)

The Israelites Oppressed

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel^(A) 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.^{(B) 5} The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy^[a] in all;^(C) Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶ Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,^{(D) 7} but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers^(E) and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

⁸ Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.^{(F) 9} “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous^(G) for us.^{(H) 10} Come, we must deal shrewdly^(I) 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.”^(J)

¹¹ So they put slave masters^(K) over them to oppress them with forced labor,^(L) and they built Pithom and Rameses^(M) as store cities^(N) for Pharaoh. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³ and worked them ruthlessly.^{(O) 14} They made their lives bitter with harsh labor^(P) in brick^(Q) and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.^(R)

¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives,^(S) whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ¹⁶ “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”^{(T) 17} The midwives, however, feared^(U) God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do;^(V) they let the boys live. ¹⁸ Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

¹⁹ The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”^(W)

²⁰ So God was kind to the midwives^(X) and the people increased and became even more numerous. ²¹ And because the midwives feared^(Y) God, he gave them families^(Z) of their own.

²² Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile,^(AA) but let every girl live.”^(AB)