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The Israelites Multiply in Egypt

(Genesis 46:8-27)

¹ These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;⁴ Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.⁵ The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy^(a) in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt.⁶ Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,⁷ but the Israelites were fruitful and increased abundantly; they multiplied and became exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

Oppression by a New King

⁸ Then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to power in Egypt.⁹ “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become too numerous and too powerful for us.¹⁰ Come, we must deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase even more; and if a war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”¹¹ So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.¹³ They worked the Israelites ruthlessly¹⁴ and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. Every service they imposed was harsh.

¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,¹⁶ “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them as they deliver. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.”¹⁷ The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.¹⁸ So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”¹⁹ The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before a midwife arrives.”²⁰ So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous.²¹ And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.²² Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews^(a) you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”