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15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom [a]was named Shiphrah and the other [b]was named Puah; 16 and he said, “When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, (A)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 [c](B)feared God and (C)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 (D)God was good to the midwives, and (E)the people multiplied and became very [d]mighty. 21 Now it happened that because the midwives [e](F)feared God, He (G)made [f]households for them. 22 And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “(H)Every son who is born [g]you are to cast into (I)the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.”

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 1:15 Lit the name was
  2. Exodus 1:15 Lit the name was
  3. Exodus 1:17 Or reverenced
  4. Exodus 1:20 Or numerous
  5. Exodus 1:21 Or reverenced
  6. Exodus 1:21 Or families
  7. Exodus 1:22 Some versions insert to the Hebrews

15 The king of Egypt spoke to two Hebrew midwives named Shiphrah and Puah: 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth and you see the baby being born, if it’s a boy, kill him. But if it’s a girl, you can let her live.” 17 Now the two midwives respected God so they didn’t obey the Egyptian king’s order. Instead, they let the baby boys live.

18 So the king of Egypt called the two midwives and said to them, “Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the baby boys live?”

19 The two midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because Hebrew women aren’t like Egyptian women. They’re much stronger and give birth before any midwives can get to them.” 20 So God treated the midwives well, and the people kept on multiplying and became very strong. 21 And because the midwives respected God, God gave them households of their own.

22 Then Pharaoh gave an order to all his people: “Throw every baby boy born to the Hebrews into the Nile River, but you can let all the girls live.”

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