[1] These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:
[2] Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
[3] Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
[4] Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.
[5] The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt.
[6] Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,
[7] but the Israelites were fruitful and increased rapidly; they multiplied and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.
[8] Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt.
[9] “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become too numerous and too powerful for us.
[10] Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase even more; and if a war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”
[11] So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
[12] But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.
[13] They worked the Israelites ruthlessly
[14] and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. Every service they imposed was harsh.
[15] Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,
[16] “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.”
[17] The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live.
[18] So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
[19] The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before a midwife arrives.”
[20] So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous.
[21] And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.
[22] Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”