Jacob’s Family Grows Strong

1 When Jacob went to Egypt, he took his sons, and ·each son took his own family [^L…their households] with him. These are the names of the sons of Israel: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, ³ Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, ⁴ Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. ⁵ There was a total of seventy people who ·were descendants [^Lcame out of the loins/thigh] of Jacob [Gen. 46:26–27]. Jacob’s son Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶ Some time later, Joseph and his brothers died, along with all ·the people who had lived at that same time [^Lthat generation]. ⁷ But the ·people [^Lsons; children] of Israel ·had many children [^Lwere fruitful], and ·their number grew greatly [^Lthey became a teeming swarm and multiplied]. They became very strong, and the ·country of Egypt [^Lland] was filled with them [Gen. 1:28].

Trouble for the People of Israel

⁸ Then a new king ·began to rule [^Lrose over] Egypt, who did not know who Joseph was [^Cidentification uncertain; may refer to Ahmose in 16th century bc]. ⁹ ·This king [^LHe] said to his people, “Look! The people of Israel are too many and ·too strong for us to handle [^Lstronger than us]! ¹⁰ If we don’t ·make plans against [deal wisely/shrewdly with] them, the number of their people will grow even more. Then if there is a war, they might join ·our enemies [^Lthose who hate us] and fight us and ·escape [^Lgo up] from the country!”

¹¹ So ·the Egyptians made life hard for the Israelites [^Lthey afflicted/oppressed them with hard labor]. They put slave masters over them, who forced the Israelites to build the cities Pithom and Rameses as ·supply centers [storage cities] for ·the king [^LPharaoh]. ¹² But the harder ·the Egyptians forced the Israelites to work [^Lthey afflicted/oppressed them], the more ·the Israelites grew in number [they multiplied] and spread out. So ·the Egyptians became very afraid of them [^Lthey dreaded the sons/^Tchildren of Israel] ¹³ and ·demanded even more of them [^Lthe Egyptians ruthlessly forced the sons/^Tchildren of Israel to labor]. ¹⁴ They made their lives ·bitter [miserable]. They forced the Israelites to work hard to make bricks and mortar and to do all kinds of work in the fields. ·The Egyptians were not merciful to them in all their painful work [^LThey ruthlessly forced them to work].

¹⁵ Two Hebrew ·nurses [midwives] named Shiphrah and Puah were told by the king [^Cnot the Pharaoh of 1:8; perhaps fifteenth or thirteenth century bc—if the latter, probably Rameses], ¹⁶ “When you ·are helping the Hebrew women give birth to their babies [act as midwives for the Hebrew women], ·watch [observe them on the birthstool; or look at the stones; ^Ca euphemism for testicles]! If the baby is a girl, let her live, but if it is a boy, kill him!” ¹⁷ But the ·nurses [midwives] feared God, so they did not do as the king [^Lof Egypt] told them; they let all the boy babies live. ¹⁸ Then the king of Egypt sent for the ·nurses [midwives] and said, “Why did you do this? Why did you let the boys live?”

¹⁹ The ·nurses [midwives] said to ·him [^LPharaoh], “The Hebrew women are ·much stronger than [^Lnot like] the Egyptian women. They are ·strong [vigorous; hardy]. They give birth to their babies before we can get there.” ²⁰ God ·was good [showed favor] to the ·nurses [midwives]. And the Hebrew people continued to grow in number, so they became even stronger. ²¹ Because the ·nurses [midwives] feared God [Prov. 1:7], he gave them families of their own.

²² So ·the king [^LPharaoh] commanded all his people, “Every time a boy is born to the Hebrews, you must throw him into the Nile River, but let all the girl babies live.”