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Exodus 1
New International Version
Exodus 1
New International Version
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)
Footnotes
- Exodus 1:5 Masoretic Text (see also Gen. 46:27); Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint (see also Acts 7:14 and note at Gen. 46:27) seventy-five
Exodus 1
New King James Version
Exodus 1
New King James Version
Israel’s Suffering in Egypt
1 Now (A)these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 All those [a]who were descendants of Jacob were (B)seventy[b] persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). 6 And (C)Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. 7 (D)But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and [c]grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, (E)who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and (F)mightier than we; 10 (G)come, let us (H)deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them (I)to afflict them with their (J)burdens. And they built for Pharaoh (K)supply cities, Pithom (L)and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. 13 So the Egyptians made the children of Israel (M)serve with [d]rigor. 14 And they (N)made their lives bitter with hard bondage—(O)in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.
15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the (P)Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; 16 and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a (Q)son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” 17 But the midwives (R)feared God, and did not do (S)as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. 18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?”
19 And (T)the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they [e]are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”
20 (U)Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and [f]grew very mighty. 21 And so it was, because the midwives feared God, (V)that He [g]provided households for them.
22 So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, (W)“Every son who is [h]born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”
Footnotes
- Exodus 1:5 Lit. who came from the loins of
- Exodus 1:5 DSS, LXX seventy-five; cf. Acts 7:14
- Exodus 1:7 became very numerous
- Exodus 1:13 harshness
- Exodus 1:19 have vigor of life, bear quickly, easily
- Exodus 1:20 became very numerous
- Exodus 1:21 gave them families
- Exodus 1:22 Sam., LXX, Tg. add to the Hebrews
Exodus 1
English Standard Version
Exodus 1
English Standard Version
Israel Increases Greatly in Egypt
1 (A)These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 All the descendants of Jacob were (B)seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Then (C)Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. 7 (D)But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.
Pharaoh Oppresses Israel
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, (E)who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, (F)the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 10 (G)Come, (H)let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them (I)to afflict them with heavy (J)burdens. They built for Pharaoh (K)store cities, Pithom and (L)Raamses. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. 13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel (M)work as slaves 14 and (N)made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” 17 But the midwives (O)feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. 18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” 20 (P)So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God, (Q)he gave them families. 22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, (R)“Every son that is born to the Hebrews[a] you shall cast into (S)the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”
Footnotes
- Exodus 1:22 Samaritan, Septuagint, Targum; Hebrew lacks to the Hebrews
Exodus 1
Expanded Bible
Exodus 1
Expanded Bible
Jacob’s Family Grows Strong
1 When Jacob went to Egypt, he took his sons, and ·each son took his own family [L …their households] with him. These are the names of the sons of Israel: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 There was a total of seventy people who ·were descendants [L came out of the loins/thigh] of Jacob [Gen. 46:26–27]. Jacob’s son Joseph was already in Egypt.
6 Some time later, Joseph and his brothers died, along with all ·the people who had lived at that same time [L that generation]. 7 But the ·people [L sons; children] of Israel ·had many children [L were fruitful], and ·their number grew greatly [L they became a teeming swarm and multiplied]. They became very strong, and the ·country of Egypt [L land] was filled with them [Gen. 1:28].
Trouble for the People of Israel
8 Then a new king ·began to rule [L rose over] Egypt, who did not know who Joseph was [C identification uncertain; may refer to Ahmose in 16th century bc]. 9 ·This king [L He] said to his people, “Look! The people of Israel are too many and ·too strong for us to handle [L stronger than us]! 10 If we don’t ·make plans against [deal wisely/shrewdly with] them, the number of their people will grow even more. Then if there is a war, they might join ·our enemies [L those who hate us] and fight us and ·escape [L go up] from the country!”
11 So ·the Egyptians made life hard for the Israelites [L they afflicted/oppressed them with hard labor]. They put slave masters over them, who forced the Israelites to build the cities Pithom and Rameses as ·supply centers [storage cities] for ·the king [L Pharaoh]. 12 But the harder ·the Egyptians forced the Israelites to work [L they afflicted/oppressed them], the more ·the Israelites grew in number [they multiplied] and spread out. So ·the Egyptians became very afraid of them [L they dreaded the sons/T children of Israel] 13 and ·demanded even more of them [L the Egyptians ruthlessly forced the sons/T children of Israel to labor]. 14 They made their lives ·bitter [miserable]. They forced the Israelites to work hard to make bricks and mortar and to do all kinds of work in the fields. ·The Egyptians were not merciful to them in all their painful work [L They ruthlessly forced them to work].
15 Two Hebrew ·nurses [midwives] named Shiphrah and Puah were told by the king [C not the Pharaoh of 1:8; perhaps fifteenth or thirteenth century bc—if the latter, probably Rameses], 16 “When you ·are helping the Hebrew women give birth to their babies [act as midwives for the Hebrew women], ·watch [observe them on the birthstool; or look at the stones; C a euphemism for testicles]! If the baby is a girl, let her live, but if it is a boy, kill him!” 17 But the ·nurses [midwives] feared God, so they did not do as the king [L of Egypt] told them; they let all the boy babies live. 18 Then the king of Egypt sent for the ·nurses [midwives] and said, “Why did you do this? Why did you let the boys live?”
19 The ·nurses [midwives] said to ·him [L Pharaoh], “The Hebrew women are ·much stronger than [L not like] the Egyptian women. They are ·strong [vigorous; hardy]. They give birth to their babies before we can get there.” 20 God ·was good [showed favor] to the ·nurses [midwives]. And the Hebrew people continued to grow in number, so they became even stronger. 21 Because the ·nurses [midwives] feared God [Prov. 1:7], he gave them families of their own.
22 So ·the king [L Pharaoh] commanded all his people, “Every time a boy is born to the Hebrews, you must throw him into the Nile River, but let all the girl babies live.”
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
English Standard Version (ESV) 
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
Expanded Bible (EXB)
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.