1:1 1 These 2 are the names 3 of the sons of Israel 4 who entered Egypt – each man with his household 5 entered with Jacob: 1:2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 1:3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 1:4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 1:5 All the people 6 who were directly descended 7 from Jacob numbered seventy. 8 But Joseph was already in Egypt, 9 1:6 and in time 10 Joseph 11 and his brothers and all that generation died. 1:7 The Israelites, 12 however, 13 were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong, 14 so that the land was filled with them.
1:8 Then a new king, 15 who did not know about 16 Joseph, came to power 17 over Egypt. 1:9 He said 18 to his people, “Look at 19 the Israelite people, more numerous and stronger than we are! 1:10 Come, let’s deal wisely 20 with them. Otherwise 21 they will continue to multiply, 22 and if 23 a war breaks out, they will ally themselves with 24 our enemies and fight against us and leave 25 the country.”
1:11 So they put foremen 26 over the Israelites 27 to oppress 28 them with hard labor. As a result 29 they built Pithom and Rameses 30 as store cities for Pharaoh. 1:12 But the more the Egyptians 31 oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread. 32 As a result the Egyptians loathed 33 the Israelites, 1:13 and they 34 made the Israelites serve rigorously. 35 1:14 They made their lives bitter 36 by 37 hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service 38 in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous. 39
1:15 The king of Egypt said 40 to the Hebrew midwives, 41 one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 42 1:16 43 “When you assist 44 the Hebrew women in childbirth, observe at the delivery: 45 If it is a son, kill him, 46 but if it is a daughter, she may live.” 47 1:17 But 48 the midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. 49