Exodus 1
1THESE are the names of Israel’s sons who went down to Egypt with their father Jacob. They went everyone with his whole family;
2Reuben, Symeon, Levi, Juda,
3Issachar, Zabulon, Benjamin,
4Dan and Nephthaleim, Gad and Aser. Now Joseph was in Egypt.
5And all the souls from Jacob were seventy-five.
6And when Joseph was dead and all his brothers and all that generation
7and the children of Israel had increased and multiplied and were become numerous and grew more and more powerful and the land caused them to abound,
8there arose another king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph.
9And he said to his nation, Behold the race of the children of Israel is become a great multitude, and is mightier than we.
10Come therefore, let us deal subtly with them. Perhaps when they are multiplied, if a war should happen to us, they will join our enemies and fight against us and depart out of the land.
11So he set task masters over them to afflict them with labours and they built for Pharao fortified cities, namely, Peitho and Ramesses and On, which is Heliopolis.
12But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew stronger and stronger.
13So the Egyptians were abhorred by the children of Israel; and the Egyptians ruled over the Israelites with rigour
14and made their lives bitter with hard labour in working clay and making bricks and with all the toils of the field, according to the several kinds of service to which they forcibly subjected them.
15Moreover the king of the Egyptians spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the first in rank was Sepphora and the name of the second Phua,
16and said, When you do the office of midwives to the Hebrew women and they are delivered, if it be a male child, kill it; but if it be a female preserve it alive.
17But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the males.
18Whereupon the king of Egypt sent for the midwives and said to them, Why have you done this and saved the male children?
19And the midwives said to Pharao, The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian; for they bring forth instantly. Before the midwives can come to them, they are delivered.
20And God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew mighty.
21And because the midwives feared God they established families for themselves.
22Then Pharao gave orders to all his people saying, Every male child which is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the river, but preserve every female alive.