Israel in Egypt

1 And these are the names of the sons of Israel who went into Egypt with Jacob, each entering 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 And all the people directly descended from Jacob totaled seventy, with Joseph and his sons, who were in Egypt. 6 And Joseph died, and after him all his brothers died, and all that generation. 7 And the people of Israel increased, and had many children, and became strong, and grew very numerous, and the land was filled with them.

The king’s oppression

8 And a new king, as though beginning his reign, arose over Egypt, who did not acknowledge Joseph and did not follow his laws.⁠a

9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the house of Israel are many, and are stronger than we are. 10 Come, let us plan against them with these laws, to reduce their numbers before they increase, so that if war breaks out against us, they will not join our enemies, and destroy us without leaving even one of us, and then leave the land.”

11 And they appointed overseers to oppress them in slavery, and the Israelites built fortified cities as Pharaoh’s storehouses, Tanis and Pelusium. 12 But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and grew stronger, and the Egyptians lived in dread of the Israelites. 13 And the Egyptians enslaved the sons of Israel, 14 and made their lives bitter by hard work in clay and bricks, and all the work in the open country, and they treated them harshly in all the work they made them do.

Pharaoh’s dream and the midwives

15 And Pharaoh reported that while he slept, he had dreamed that all the land of Egypt was placed in one pan of a balance, and a lamb, the young of a ewe,⁠b was in the other pan, and the pan holding the lamb was heavier. He immediately sent for all the magicians of Egypt, and told them his dream. Immediately Jannes and Jambres, the chief magicians, spoke to Pharaoh,⁠c “A son is about to be born among the people of Israel who will bring destruction on the whole land of Egypt.”⁠d So Pharaoh, king of Egypt, gave instructions to the Jewish midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah, who is Jochebed, and the other Puah, who is her daughter Miriam.⁠e

16 And he said, “When you attend Jewish women as midwives, look at the birthstool. If the child is a boy, you must kill him, but if the child is a girl, you may let her live.” 17 But the midwives feared the Lord, and did not do what the king of Egypt had said to them, but they saved the children. 18 And the king of Egypt called the midwives, and said to them, “Why have you done this and saved the children?”

19 And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Jewish women are not like Egyptian women, for they are strong and skillful. Before the midwife comes to them they lift up their eyes in prayer, asking their Father in heaven for mercy,⁠f who hears the voice of their prayer, and at once they are heard, and give birth safely.”

20 And the Lord was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared the Lord, they gained a good reputation for generations, and the Word of the Lord built for them a royal house and the house of the high priesthood.

22 But when Pharaoh saw this, he commanded all his people, saying, “You must throw every boy born to the Jews into the river, but you may spare every daughter.”