Exodus 1

1 And these are the names of the sons of Israel who had come into Egypt; with Jacob had they come, each with his household:

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 And all the souls that had come out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls; and Joseph was in Egypt.

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

6 And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.

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

7 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and swarmed and multiplied, and became exceeding strong; 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 And there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

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

9 And he said to his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more numerous and stronger than we.

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 Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that, if war occur, they take side with our enemies and fight against 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 And they set over them service-masters to oppress them with their burdens. And they built store-cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Rameses.

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 they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and spread; and they were distressed because of the children of Israel.

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 the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with harshness;

The Egyptians worked the Israelites brutally,

14 and they embittered their life with hard labour in clay and bricks, and in all manner of labour in the field: all their labour with which they made them serve was with harshness.

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 spoke to the Hebrew midwives — of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other was Puah —

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

16 and he said, When ye help the Hebrew women in bearing, and see [them] on the stool, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him, but if a daughter, then she shall live.

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 midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt had said to them, but saved the male children alive.

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 called the midwives and said to them, Why have ye done this, and saved the male children alive?

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

19 And the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian; for they are strong, and they have borne before the midwife comes 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 God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong.

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

21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.

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

22 Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, but every daughter ye shall save alive.

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