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 ^(A)son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives ^(B)feared God, and did not do ^(C)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?”