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)

²³ During that long period,^(A) the king of Egypt died.^(B) The Israelites groaned in their slavery^(C) and cried out, and their cry^(D) for help because of their slavery went up to God. ²⁴ God heard their groaning and he remembered^(E) his covenant^(F) with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. ²⁵ So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned^(G) about them.

⁷ The Lord said, “I have indeed seen^(A) the misery^(B) of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned^(C) about their suffering.^{(D) 8} So I have come down^(E) to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land,^(F) a land flowing with milk and honey^(G)—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites^(H) and Jebusites.^{(I) 9} And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing^(J) them. ¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending^(K) you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”^(L)

⁹ Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.^(A)

⁴ “Your father put a heavy yoke^(A) on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”