[1] These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; each came with his family: [2] Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; [3] Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; [4] Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. [5] The total number of Jacob's descendants was seventy; Joseph was already in Egypt. [6] Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation eventually died. [7] But the Israelites were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous so that the land was filled with them. [8] A new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. [9] He said to his people, "Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are. [10] Come, 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." [11] So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh. [12] But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. [13] They worked the Israelites ruthlessly [14] and 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. [15] The 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." [17] The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. [18] So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this and let the boys live?" [19] The 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." [20] So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very numerous. [21] Since the midwives feared God, he gave them families. [22] Pharaoh then commanded all his people, "You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile, but let every daughter live."
