Exodus 1

1 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt; every man and his family came with Jacob.

These were the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob) who came with him to Egypt along with their families:

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;

3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;

Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;

4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

5 All the offspring of Jacob were seventy persons: and Joseph had come to Egypt before them.

Jacob had 70 descendants there, including Joseph who was already in Egypt.

6 Then Joseph came to his end, and all his brothers, and all that generation.

Eventually Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died.

7 And the children of Israel were fertile, increasing very greatly in numbers and in power; and the land was full of them.

However, the Israelites had many children and their numbers increased rapidly. In fact there were so many of them that they became very powerful—the country was full of them.

8 Now a new king came to power in Egypt, who had no knowledge of Joseph.

Then a new king came to power who didn't know anything about Joseph.

9 And he said to his people, See, the people of Israel are greater in number and in power than we are:

He conferred with his fellow Egyptians and said, “Look at these Israelites—there are more than them than us, and they're more powerful than us.

10 Let us take care for fear that their numbers may become even greater, and if there is a war, they may be joined with those who are against us, and make an attack on us, and go up out of the land.

We've got to make plan to deal with them before they become so many that if there's a war they'll side with our enemies and fight us, and flee the country.”

11 So they put overseers of forced work over them, in order to make their strength less by the weight of their work. And they made store-towns for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses.

So the Egyptians made them do forced labor and put taskmasters in charge of them. They used them to build the storage towns of Pithom and Rameses.

12 But the more cruel they were to them, the more their number increased, till all the land was full of them. And the children of Israel were hated by the Egyptians.

But the more the Israelites were mistreated, the more they grew in numbers and spread out—and the more the Egyptians detested them.

13 And they gave the children of Israel even harder work to do:

The Egyptians worked the Israelites brutally,

14 And made their lives bitter with hard work, making building-material and bricks, and doing all sorts of work in the fields under the hardest conditions.

making their lives a misery. They made them do hard labor, building with mortar and brick, and all kind of heavy work in the fields. In all of this hard labor they treated them brutally.

15 And the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew women who gave help at the time of childbirth (the name of the one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah),

Then the king gave orders to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah.

16 When you are looking after the Hebrew women in childbirth, if it is a son you are to put him to death; but if it is a daughter, she may go on living.

He told them, “When you assist the Hebrew women during childbirth, if you see it's a boy, kill him; but if it's a girl, let her live.”

17 But the women had the fear of God, and did not do as the king of Egypt said, but let the male children go on living.

But because the midwives revered God, they didn't do what the king of Egypt had ordered. They let the boys live as well.

18 And the king of Egypt sent for the women, and said to them, Why have you done this, and let the male children go on living?

The king of Egypt called the midwives in and demanded to know, “Why have you done this— letting the male children live?”

19 And they said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are strong, and the birth takes place before we come to them.

“Hebrew women aren't like Egyptian women,” the midwives told Pharaoh. “They give birth more easily—they have them before we midwives arrive.”

20 And the blessing of God was on these women: and the people were increased in number and became very strong.

God treated the midwives well, and the people increased in number so there were even more of them.

21 And because the women who took care of the Hebrew mothers had the fear of God, he gave them families.

Because the midwives revered God, he gave them families of their own.

22 And Pharaoh gave orders to all his people, saying, Every son who comes to birth is to be put into the river, but every daughter may go on living.

Then Pharaoh issued this order to all his people: “Throw every Hebrew boy that's born into the Nile, but let every girl live.”