Exodus 1

1 And these [are] the names of the sons of Israel who are coming into Egypt; each man and his household have come 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 And all the persons coming out of the thigh of Jacob are seventy persons; as for Joseph, he was in Egypt.

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

6 And Joseph dies, and all his brothers, and all that generation;

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

7 and the sons of Israel have been fruitful, and they teem, and multiply, and are very, very mighty, and the land is filled with 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 rises a new king over Egypt, who has not known Joseph,

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

9 and he says to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel [are] more numerous and mighty 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 Give help! Let us act wisely concerning it, lest it multiply, and it has come to pass, when war happens, that it has been joined, even it, to those hating us, and has fought against us, and has gone 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 princes of tribute over it, so as to afflict it with their burdens, and it builds the store-cities of Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh;

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 and as they afflict it, so it multiplies, and so it breaks forth, and they are distressed because of the sons 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 cause the sons of Israel to serve with rigor,

The Egyptians worked the Israelites brutally,

14 and make their lives bitter in hard service, in clay, and in brick, and in every [kind] of service in the field; all their service in which they have served [is] with rigor.

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 speaks to the midwives, the Hebrewesses (of whom the name of the first [is] Shiphrah, and the name of the second Puah),

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

16 and says, “When you cause the Hebrew women to bear, and have looked on the children, if it [is] a son, then you have put him to death; and if it [is] a daughter, then she has lived.”

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 And the midwives fear God, and have not done as the king of Egypt has spoken to them, and they keep the boys 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 calls for the midwives and says to them, “Why have you done this thing, and keep the boys 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 say to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women [are] not as the Egyptian women, for they [are] lively; before the midwife comes to them—they have borne!”

“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 does good to the midwives, and the people multiply, and are very mighty;

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

21 and it comes to pass, because the midwives have feared God, that He makes households for them;

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

22 and Pharaoh lays a charge on all his people, saying, “Every son who is born—you cast him into the River, and every daughter you keep 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.”