Now these are the ^anames of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; each came with his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 All the descendants of Jacob were ^aseventy people; Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 ^aThen Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation, 7 but the ¹Israelites ^awere prolific and increased greatly; ²they multiplied and became extremely strong, so that the land was filled with them.

8 ¹Now a new ^2aking arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph nor the history of his accomplishments. 9 ^aHe said to his people, “Behold, the ¹people of the sons of Israel are too many and too mighty for us they greatly outnumber us. 10 Come, let us ^adeal shrewdly with them, so that they will not multiply and in the event of war, join our enemies, and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11 So they set ^ataskmasters over them to oppress them with ^bhard labor. And the sons of Israel built Pithom and ^cRaamses as ^dstorage cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, ^athe more they multiplied and expanded, so that the Egyptians dreaded and were exasperated by the Israelites. 13 And the Egyptians made the Israelites ^aserve rigorously forcing them into severe slavery. 14 They made ^atheir lives bitter with hard labor in mortar, brick, and all kinds of field work. All their labor was harsh and severe.

15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah (beauty) and the other named Puah (splendor) , 16 “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, ^aif it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” 17 But the midwives ^afeared God with profound reverence and ^bdid not do as the king of Egypt commanded, but they let the boy babies live. 18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and allowed the boy babies to live?” 19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth quickly and their babies are born before the midwife can get to them.” 20 So ^aGod was good to the midwives, and ^bthe people of Israel multiplied and became very strong. 21 And because the midwives ^afeared God with profound reverence, ¹He ^bestablished families and households for them. 22 Then ¹Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “^aEvery son who is born to the Hebrews must be thrown into ^bthe Nile, but every daughter you shall keep alive.”