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.”