Exodus 1

Legacy Standard Bible

Israel Multiplies in Egypt

1 Now these are the ^(A)names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; they came each one ^[a]with his household: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; ³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; ⁴ Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. ⁵ And all the ^[b]persons who came from the loins of Jacob were ^(B)seventy ^[c]in number, but Joseph was already in Egypt. ^6 (C)Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. ⁷ But the sons of Israel ^(D)were fruitful and ^[d]increased and multiplied and became exceedingly ^[e]mighty, so that the land was filled with them.

⁸ And a new ^(E)king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ^9 (F)And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are ^[f]more and mightier than we. ¹⁰ Come, let us ^(G)deal wisely with them, lest they multiply and it be ^[g]in the event of war, that they also join themselves to those who hate us and fight against us and ^(H)go up from the land.” ¹¹ So they appointed ^(I)taskmasters over them to afflict them with ^[h](J)hard labors. And they built for Pharaoh ^(K)storage cities, Pithom and ^(L)Raamses. ¹² But the more they afflicted them, ^(M)the more they multiplied and the more they ^[i]spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel. ¹³ So the Egyptians brutally compelled the sons of Israel ^(N)to slave labor; ¹⁴ and they made ^(O)their lives bitter with ^[j]hard slave labor in mortar and bricks and in all kinds of slave labor in the field, all their slave labor which they brutally ^[k]compelled them to do.

¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom ^[l]was named Shiphrah and the other ^[m]was named Puah; ¹⁶ and he said, “When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, ^(P)if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives ^[n](Q)feared God and ^(R)did not do as the king of Egypt had spoken to them, but let the boys live. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?” ¹⁹ Then the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can come to them.” ²⁰ So ^(S)God was good to the midwives, and ^(T)the people multiplied and became very ^[o]mighty. ²¹ Now it happened that because the midwives ^[p](U)feared God, He ^(V)made ^[q]households for them. ²² And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “^(W)Every son who is born ^[r]you are to cast into ^(X)the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.”