Exodus 1:1-15

New American 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 [b]All the people who descended from Jacob were ^(B)seventy ^[c]people, but Joseph was already in Egypt. ⁶ And ^(C)Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. ⁷ But the sons of Israel ^(D)were fruitful and ^[d]increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly ^[e]mighty, so that the land was filled with them.

⁸ Now a new ^(E)king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹ And ^(F)he said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are ^[f]too many and too mighty for us. ¹⁰ Come, let us ^(G)deal ^[g]shrewdly with them, otherwise they will multiply, and ^[h]in the event of war, they will also join those who hate us, and fight against us and ^[i]depart from the land.” ¹¹ So they appointed ^(H)taskmasters over them to oppress them with ^[j](I)hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh ^(J)storage cities, Pithom and ^(K)Raamses. ¹² But the more they oppressed them, ^(L)the more they multiplied and the more they ^[k]spread out, so that they dreaded the sons of Israel. ¹³ The Egyptians ^[l]used violence to compel the sons of Israel ^(M)to labor; ¹⁴ and they made ^(N)their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they violently had them perform as slaves.

¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom ^[m]was named Shiphrah, and the other ^[n]was named Puah;