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1:1  These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob. Each one came with those of his house:
1:2  Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,
1:3  Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin,
1:4  Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
1:5  There were seventy people in Jacob’s family. But Joseph was already in Egypt.
1:6  Joseph and all his brothers died and all their families of that time.
1:7  But the sons of Israel had many children, and the people became many in number. There were so many that the land was filled with them.
1:8  Then a new king came into power over Egypt. He did not know Joseph.
1:9  He said to his people, “See, the people of Israel are too many and too powerful for us.
1:10  Come, let us be wise in how we act towards them, or they will become more in number. If there is a war, they might join with those who hate us. They might fight against us and then leave the land.”
1:11  So they put men in power over them to make them work hard. And they built the store-cities Pithom and Raamses for Pharaoh the king.
1:12  But the more the Egyptians made them suffer, the more they became until they spread throughout the land. So the Egyptians were afraid of the people of Israel.
1:13  The Egyptians made the people of Israel work very hard.
1:14  They made their lives bitter with hard work building with stones and with all kinds of work in the field. They made them work very hard.
1:15  Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew nurses. The name of one was Shiphrah. The name of the other was Puah.
1:16  He said, “When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth, and see the baby before the mother does, if it is a son, kill him. But if it is a daughter, let her live.”
1:17  But the nurses feared God. They did not do what the king of Egypt told them. They let the boys live.
1:18  So the king of Egypt called the nurses and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the boys live?”
1:19  The nurses answered Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are strong. They give birth before the nurse comes to them.”
1:20  So God was good to the nurses. And the people became many and strong.
1:21  Because the nurses feared God, He gave them families.
1:22  Then Pharaoh told all his people, “Throw every son who is born to the Hebrews into the Nile. But keep every daughter alive.”