1Now these are the names of the descendants of Israel, who came into Egypt; every man and his household that came with Jacob: 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, 3Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, 4Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5And all the descendants of Jacob were seventy souls; for Joseph was already in Egypt. 6And then Joseph, all his brothers, and all of that generation, died. 7And the children of Israel were fruitful, multiplying and increasing greatly, and became very strong; and the land was filled with them.

8And there arose a new king over Egypt, to whom Joseph, and what he had done for Egypt meant nothing. 9And he said to his people, “Look, these Israelite people are now more numerous and strong than we. 10Come on, let us deal wisely with them; or they will continue to multiply, and when war breaks out, they may join our enemies to fight against us, and then get up and leave the country.” 11Therefore they set taskmasters over the Israelites to afflict them with forced labor. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities: Pithom and Rameses. 12But the more they afflicted them, the more they flourished. And the Egyptians were grieved by this. 13And so they forced the Israelites to serve with even more rigor: 14And they made their lives bitter with hard work in mortar, in brick, and all manner of field work. All their forced labor was with rigor.

15And the king of Egypt gave orders to the Hebrew midwives, one of which was named Shiphrah, and the other was named Puah: 16“When you serve the Hebrew women as midwives, and see them on the birthing stools; if a son is born, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” 17But the midwives feared God more than Pharoah, and did not do as ordered; but they let the male children live. 18And the king of Egypt summoned them and said, “Why have you done this - letting the male children live?” 19And the midwives replied to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women: they are vigorous; and are delivered before we midwives arrive.” 20Therefore, God dealt kindly with the midwives; and the people continued to increase, and became more numerous. 21And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own. 22So Pharaoh gave this order to all his people, “Every son that is born, you must throw into the river, and every daughter you shall let live.”