^10 (A)In case of war they might join our enemies in order to fight against us, and might escape from^[a] the country. We must find some way to keep them from becoming even more numerous.” ¹¹ So the Egyptians put slave drivers over them to crush their spirits with hard labor. The Israelites built the cities of Pithom and Rameses to serve as supply centers for the king. ¹² But the more the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites, the more they increased in number and the farther they spread through the land. The Egyptians came to fear the Israelites ^13-14 and made their lives miserable by forcing them into cruel slavery. They made them work on their building projects and in their fields, and they had no pity on them.

¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt spoke to Shiphrah and Puah, the two midwives who helped the Hebrew women. ¹⁶ “When you help the Hebrew women give birth,” he said to them, “kill the baby if it is a boy; but if it is a girl, let it live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives were God-fearing and so did not obey the king; instead, they let the boys live. ¹⁸ So the king sent for the midwives and asked them, “Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the boys live?”

¹⁹ They answered, “The Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they give birth easily, and their babies are born before either of us gets there.” ^20-21 Because the midwives were God-fearing, God was good to them and gave them families of their own. And the Israelites continued to increase and become strong. ^22 (B)Finally the king issued a command to all his people: “Take every newborn Hebrew boy and throw him into the Nile, but let all the girls live.”

⁷ “Stop giving the people straw for making bricks. Make them go and find it for themselves. ⁸ But still require them to make the same number of bricks as before, not one brick less. They don't have enough work to do, and that is why they keep asking me to let them go and offer sacrifices to their God! ⁹ Make them work harder and keep them busy, so that they won't have time to listen to a pack of lies.”

¹⁰ The slave drivers and the Israelite foremen went out and said to the Israelites, “The king has said that he will not supply you with any more straw. ¹¹ He says that you must go and get it for yourselves wherever you can find it, but you must still make the same number of bricks.” ¹² So the people went all over Egypt looking for straw. ¹³ The slave drivers kept trying to force them to make the same number of bricks every day as they had made when they were given straw. ¹⁴ The Egyptian slave drivers beat the Israelite foremen, whom they had put in charge of the work. They demanded, “Why aren't you people making the same number of bricks that you made before?”

¹² make certain that you do not forget the Lord who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.

²¹ Then tell them, ‘We were slaves of the king of Egypt, and the Lord rescued us by his great power.