Exodus 1
1
1These are the names of the Israelites who came to Egypt with Jacob along with their households: 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5The total number in Jacob’s family was seventy. Joseph was already in Egypt. 6Eventually, Joseph, his brothers, and everyone in his generation died. 7But the Israelites were fertile and became populous. They multiplied and grew dramatically, filling the whole land.
Israel is oppressed
8Now a new king came to power in Egypt who didn’t know Joseph. 9He said to his people, “The Israelite people are now larger in number and stronger than we are. 10Come on, let’s be smart and deal with them. Otherwise, they will only grow in number. And if war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and then escape from the land.” 11As a result, the Egyptians put foremen of forced work gangs over the Israelites to harass them with hard work. They had to build storage cities named Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they grew and spread, so much so that the Egyptians started to look at the Israelites with disgust and dread. 13So the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites. 14They made their lives miserable with hard labor, making mortar and bricks, doing field work, and by forcing them to do all kinds of other cruel work.
15The 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.” 17Now the two midwives respected God so they didn’t obey the Egyptian king’s order. Instead, they let the baby boys live.
18So 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?”
19The 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.” 20So God treated the midwives well, and the people kept on multiplying and became very strong. 21And because the midwives respected God, God gave them households of their own.
22Then 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.”
Currently Selected:
Exodus 1: CEB
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Exodus 1
1
Israel Oppressed in Egypt
1These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; each came with his family:#Gn 46:8
2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
4Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.
5The total number of Jacob’s descendants#1:5 Lit of people issuing from Jacob’s loins was seventy;#1:5 LXX, DSS read 75; Gn 46:27; Ac 7:14#Gn 46:26–27; Dt 10:22 Joseph was already in Egypt.
6Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation eventually died.#Gn 50:26 7But the Israelites were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous#Gn 12:2; 46:3; Dt 26:5; Ac 7:17 so that the land was filled with them.
8A new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. 9He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are.#Ps 105:24 10Come, let’s deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and when war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”#Ps 83:3–4; Ac 7:19 11So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor.#Gn 15:13; Ex 2:11; 3:7; 5:4–5; 6:6; Dt 26:6 They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities#Gn 47:11; 1Kg 9:19; 2Ch 8:4 for Pharaoh. 12But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread so that the Egyptians came to dread#1:12 Or Egyptians loathed the Israelites. 13They worked the Israelites ruthlessly#Dt 4:20 14and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.#Ex 2:23; Nm 20:15; Ac 7:19
15The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives — the first, whose name was Shiphrah, and the second, whose name was Puah — 16“When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them as they deliver. If the child is a son, kill him, but if it’s a daughter, she may live.” 17The midwives, however, feared God#Ex 1:21; Pr 16:6 and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them;#Dn 3:16–18; Ac 4:18–20; 5:29 they let the boys live. 18So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”
19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.”#Jos 2:4; 2Sm 17:20
20So God was good to the midwives,#Pr 11:18; Is 3:10 and the people multiplied and became very numerous. 21Since the midwives feared God, he gave them families.#1Sm 2:35; 2Sm 7:11,27; 1Kg 11:38; Ps 127:1 22Pharaoh then commanded all his people, “You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile, but let every daughter live.”#Gn 41:1; Ac 7:19
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers