Exodus 1
1
1-5These are the names of the Israelites who went to Egypt with Jacob, each bringing his family members:
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,
Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
Seventy persons in all generated by Jacob’s seed. Joseph was already in Egypt.
6-7Then Joseph died, and all his brothers—that whole generation. But the children of Israel kept on reproducing. They were very prolific—a population explosion in their own right—and the land was filled with them.
“A New King . . . Who Didn’t Know Joseph”
8-10A new king came to power in Egypt who didn’t know Joseph. He spoke to his people with alarm, “There are way too many of these Israelites for us to handle. We’ve got to do something: Let’s devise a plan to contain them, lest if there’s a war they should join our enemies, or just walk off and leave us.”
11-14So they organized them into work-gangs and put them to hard labor under gang-foremen. They built the storage cities Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. But the harder the Egyptians worked them the more children the Israelites had—children everywhere! The Egyptians got so they couldn’t stand the Israelites and treated them worse than ever, crushing them with slave labor. They made them miserable with hard labor—making bricks and mortar and back-breaking work in the fields. They piled on the work, crushing them under the cruel workload.
15-16The king of Egypt had a talk with the two Hebrew midwives; one was named Shiphrah and the other Puah. He said, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the sex of the baby. If it’s a boy, kill him; if it’s a girl, let her live.”
17-18But the midwives had far too much respect for God and didn’t do what the king of Egypt ordered; they let the boy babies live. The king of Egypt called in the midwives. “Why didn’t you obey my orders? You’ve let those babies live!”
19The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; they’re vigorous. Before the midwife can get there, they’ve already had the baby.”
20-21God was pleased with the midwives. The people continued to increase in number—a very strong people. And because the midwives honored God, God gave them families of their own.
22So Pharaoh issued a general order to all his people: “Every boy that is born, drown him in the Nile. But let the girls live.”
Currently Selected:
Exodus 1: MSG
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Shemoth (Exodus) 1
1
1And these are the names of the children of Yisra’ĕl who came to Mitsrayim with Ya‛aqoḇ, each one with his household:
2Re’uḇĕn, Shim‛on, Lĕwi, and Yehuḏah;
3Yissasḵar, Zeḇulun, and Binyamin;
4Dan and Naphtali, Gaḏ and Ashĕr.
5And all those who were descendants of Ya‛aqoḇ were seventy beings, as Yosĕph was already in Mitsrayim.
6And Yosĕph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation.
7And the children of Yisra’ĕl were fruitful and increased very much, multiplied and became very strong, and the land was filled with them.
8Then a new sovereign arose over Mitsrayim, who did not know Yosĕph,
9and he said to his people, “See, the people of the children of Yisra’ĕl are more and stronger than we,
10come, let us act wisely towards them, lest they increase, and it shall be when fighting befalls us, that they shall join our enemies and fight against us, and shall go up out of the land.”
11So they set slave-masters over them to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Ra‛amses.
12But the more they afflicted them, the more they increased and grew, and they were in dread of the children of Yisra’ĕl.
13And the Mitsrites made the children of Yisra’ĕl serve with harshness,
14and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all kinds of work in the field, all their work which they made them do was with harshness.
15Then the sovereign of Mitsrayim spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Pu‛ah,
16and he said, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death, but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
17But the midwives feared Elohim, and did not do as the sovereign of Mitsrayim commanded them, and kept the male children alive.
18So the sovereign of Mitsrayim called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and kept the male children alive?”
19And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Mitsrian women. For they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”
20So Elohim was good to the midwives, and the people increased and became very numerous.
21And it came to be, because the midwives feared Elohim, that He provided households for them.
22And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Throw every son who is born into the river, and keep alive every daughter.”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Copyright© 1993 – 2015 by the Institute for Scripture Research (ISR). All rights reserved.