Dual PanelThe Israelites in Egypt
1THESE are the names of the sons of Israel who, along with their households, accompanied Jacob to Egypt:
2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
4Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
5All told there were seventy direct descendants of Jacob. Joseph was already in Egypt.
6In course of time Joseph and all his brothers and that entire generation died.
7The Israelites were prolific and increased greatly, becoming so numerous and strong that the land was full of them.
8When a new king ascended the throne of Egypt, one who did not know about Joseph,
9he said to his people, “These Israelites have become too many and too strong for us.
10We must take steps to ensure that they increase no further; otherwise we shall find that, if war comes, they will side with the enemy, fight against us, and become masters of the country.”
11So taskmasters were appointed over them to oppress them with forced labour. This is how Pharaoh's store cities, Pithom and Rameses, were built.
12But the more oppressive the treatment of the Israelites, the more they increased and spread, until the Egyptians came to loathe them.
13They ground down their Israelite slaves,
14and made life bitter for them with their harsh demands, setting them to make mortar and bricks and to do all sorts of tasks in the fields. In every kind of labour they made ruthless use of them.
15The king of Egypt issued instructions to the Hebrew midwives, of whom one was called Shiphrah, the other Puah.
16“When you are attending the Hebrew women in childbirth,” he told them, “check as the child is delivered: if it is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, however, let her live.”
17But the midwives were godfearing women, and did not heed the king's words; they let the male children live.
18Pharaoh summoned the midwives and, when he asked them why they had done this and let the male children live,
19they answered, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they go into labour and give birth before the midwife arrives.”
20God made the midwives prosper, and the people increased in numbers and strength;
21and because the midwives feared God he gave them families of their own.
22Pharaoh then issued an order to all the Egyptians that every new-born Hebrew boy was to be thrown into the Nile, but all the girls were to be allowed to live.