¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt spoke to the ^(A)Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; 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 ^(B)son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives ^(C)feared God, and did not do ^(D)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?”

¹⁹ And ^(E)the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they ^[a]are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”

^20 (F)Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and ^[b]grew very mighty. ²¹ And so it was, because the midwives feared God, ^(G)that He ^[c]provided households for them.

²² So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, ^(H)“Every son who is ^[d]born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”