1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who entered Egypt with Jacob; they entered, each with the members of his household. 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 The sum total of the persons who were direct descendants of Jacob was seventy persons, with Joseph and his sons who were in Egypt. 6 Joseph died, and after him all his brothers died, and all that generation. 7 But the Israelites multiplied and begot children; they increased and became very strong, so that the land was filled with them. 8 Then a new king—as if at the beginning of his reign—arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph, and he did not walk according to his laws.⁠a 9 And he said to his people, 'Behold, the people of the children of Israel are much more numerous and stronger than we.' 10 'Come now, let us take counsel against them; let us reduce them with these laws before they increase, lest, should war come upon us, they too might join our enemies and wipe us out and not leave even one of us, and then go up out of the land.' 11 So they set taskmasters over them in order to afflict them in their slavery. They built fortified cities as Pharaoh’s treasure houses, Tanis and Pelusium. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they increased and the stronger they became, so that the Egyptians lived in dread of the Israelites. 13 The Egyptians harshly subjected the Israelites to slavery. 14 And made their lives bitter with hard work in clay and bricks and in all kinds of work in the open country; with harshness they made them do all their work. 15 And Pharaoh said that while he slept, he saw in his dream that all the land of Egypt was placed on one balance of a weighing scale, and a lamb, the young of a ewe,⁠b on the other balance of the weighing scale; and the balance of the weighing scale on which the lamb was placed weighed down. Immediately he sent and summoned all the magicians of Egypt and told them his dream. Immediately Jannes and Jambres, the chief magicians, opened their mouths and said to Pharaoh:⁠c 'A son is to be born in the assembly of Israel, through whom all the land of Egypt is destined to be destroyed.'⁠d 16 Therefore Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, took counsel and said to the Jewish midwives—one of whom was named Shiphrah, she is Jochebed, and the other was named Puah, she is Miriam, her daughter. 17 And he said, 'When you act as midwives for the Jewish women, you shall look at the birthstool: if it is a male child, you shall kill him; but if it is a female child, she shall live.' 18 But the midwives feared before the Lord, and they did not do as the king of Egypt told them but let the sons live. 19 So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, 'Why then have you done this thing and let the sons live?' 20 The midwives said to Pharaoh, 'Because the Jewish women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are strong and skillful. Before the midwife comes to them, they raise their eyes in prayer, praying and imploring mercy before their Father who is in heaven;⁠e he hears the voice of their prayer, and they are answered immediately, and they give birth and are delivered safely.' 21 And the Lord dealt well with the midwives; and the people increased and became exceedingly strong. 22 And when the midwives feared before the Lord, they acquired a good reputation for themselves for the generations, and the Memra of the Lord built for them the royal house and the house of the high priesthood. 23 When Pharaoh saw this, he commanded all his people saying, 'Every male child that is born to the Jews you shall throw into the river, but you shall let every daughter live.'