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1:1  These are the names of the sons of Isra’el who came into Egypt with Ya‘akov; each man came with his household:
1:2  Re’uven, Shim‘on, Levi, Y’hudah,
1:3  Yissakhar, Z’vulun, Binyamin,
1:4  Dan, Naftali, Gad and Asher.
1:5  All told, there were seventy descendants of Ya‘akov; Yosef was already in Egypt.
1:6  Yosef died, as did all his brothers and all that generation.
1:7  The descendants of Isra’el were fruitful, increased abundantly, multiplied and grew very powerful; the land became filled with them.
1:8  Now there arose a new king over Egypt. He knew nothing about Yosef
1:9  but said to his people, “Look, the descendants of Isra’el have become a people too numerous and powerful for us.
1:10  Come, let’s use wisdom in dealing with them. Otherwise, they’ll continue to multiply; and in the event of war they might ally themselves with our enemies, fight against us and leave the land altogether.”
1:11  So they put slavemasters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built for Pharaoh the storage cities of Pitom and Ra‘amses.
1:12  But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and expanded, until the Egyptians came to dread the people of Isra’el
1:13  and worked them relentlessly,
1:14  making their lives bitter with hard labor — digging clay, making bricks, all kinds of field work; and in all this toil they were shown no mercy.
1:15  Moreover, the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was called Shifrah and the other Pu‘ah.
1:16  “When you attend the Hebrew women and see them giving birth,” he said, “if it’s a boy, kill him; but if it’s a girl, let her live.”
1:17  However, the midwives were God-fearing women, so they didn’t do as the king of Egypt ordered but let the boys live.
1:18  (ii) The king of Egypt summoned the midwives and demanded of them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”
1:19  The midwives answered Pharaoh, “It’s because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women — they go into labor and give birth before the midwife arrives.”
1:20  Therefore God prospered the midwives, and the people continued to multiply and grow very powerful.
1:21  Indeed, because the midwives feared God, he made them founders of families.
1:22  Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every boy that is born, throw in the river; but let all the girls live.”