Exodus 1:14-16

Contemporary English Version

¹⁴that their lives were miserable. The Egyptians were cruel to the people of Israel and forced them to make bricks and to mix mortar and to work in the fields.

¹⁵Finally, the king called in Shiphrah and Puah, the two women who helped the Hebrew^[a] mothers when they gave birth. ¹⁶He told them, “If a Hebrew woman gives birth to a girl, let the child live. If the baby is a boy, kill him!”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

1.15 Hebrew: An earlier term for “Israelite.”

Exodus 1:14-16

New King James Version

¹⁴And they ^(A)made their lives bitter with hard bondage—^(B)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.

¹⁵Then the king of Egypt spoke to the ^(C)Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; ¹⁶and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a ^(D)son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”

Read full chapter

Exodus 1:14-16

New International Version

¹⁴They made their lives bitter with harsh labor^(A) in brick^(B) and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.^(C)

¹⁵The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives,^(D) 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.”^(E)

Read full chapter