[1] These are the names of the sons of Israel (that is, Jacob) who came with him to Egypt with their families: [2] Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; [3] Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; [4] Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. [5] Joseph was already in Egypt. The total number of Jacob's descendants was 70. [6] Eventually, Joseph, all his brothers, and that entire generation died. [7] But the descendants of Israel had many children. They became so numerous and strong that the land was filled with them. [8] Then a new king, who knew nothing about Joseph, began to rule in Egypt. [9] He said to his people, "There are too many Israelites, and they are stronger than we are. [10] We have to outsmart them, or they'll increase in number. Then, if war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country." [11] So the Egyptians put slave drivers in charge of them in order to oppress them through forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh. [12] But the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they increased in number and spread out. The Egyptians couldn't stand them any longer. [13] So they forced the Israelites to work hard as slaves. [14] They made their lives bitter with back-breaking work in mortar and bricks and every kind of work in the fields. All the jobs the Egyptians gave them were brutally hard. [15] Then the king of Egypt told the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, [16] "When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth, look at the child when you deliver it. If it's a boy, kill it, but if it's a girl, let it live." [17] However, the midwives feared God and didn't obey the king of Egypt's orders. They let the boys live. [18] So the king of Egypt called for the midwives. He asked them, "Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?" [19] The midwives answered Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women. They are so healthy that they have their babies before a midwife arrives." [20] God was good to the midwives. So the people increased in number and became very strong. [21] Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. [22] Then Pharaoh commanded all his people to throw into the Nile every Hebrew boy that was born, but to let every girl live.
