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

¹¹ So they put slave masters^(F) over them to oppress them with forced labor,^(G) and they built Pithom and Rameses^(H) as store cities^(I) 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.^{(J) 14} They made their lives bitter with harsh labor^(K) in brick^(L) and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.^(M)

¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives,^(N) 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.”^{(O) 17} The midwives, however, feared^(P) God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do;^(Q) 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.”^(R)

²⁰ So God was kind to the midwives^(S) and the people increased and became even more numerous. ²¹ And because the midwives feared^(T) God, he gave them families^(U) 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,^(V) but let every girl live.”^(W)