¹⁰ Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”

¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh.^(A)

¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,

²² Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews^[a] you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”^(A)