1These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:[ † ]Genesis 46:8-27Exodus 6:14-16 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.
5The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt.[ † ]Genesis 46:26-27Deuteronomy 10:22
6Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,[ † ]Genesis 50:26Acts 7:15 7but the Israelites were fruitful and increased rapidly; they multiplied and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.[ † ]Genesis 12:2Genesis 28:3Genesis 35:11Genesis 46:3Genesis 47:27Genesis 48:4Numbers 22:3Deuteronomy 1:10-11Deuteronomy 26:5Psalms 105:24Acts 7:17
8Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt.[ † ]Acts 7:18-19 9“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become too numerous and too powerful for us.[ † ]Genesis 26:16 10Come, let us 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.”[ † ]Psalms 83:3-4Psalms 105:25Proverbs 16:25Acts 7:19
11So 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.[ † ]Genesis 15:13Exodus 3:7Exodus 5:6Exodus 1:14Exodus 2:11Exodus 5:4-9Exodus 6:61 Kings 9:192 Chronicles 8:4Genesis 47:11 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.
13They worked the Israelites ruthlessly[ † ]Genesis 15:13Exodus 5:7-19 14and 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.[ † ]Exodus 2:23Exodus 6:9Numbers 20:15Acts 7:19-34Psalms 81:6
15Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,[ † ]Exodus 2:6 16“When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.”[ † ]Matthew 2:16Acts 7:19
17The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live.[ † ]Exodus 1:21Proverbs 16:6Daniel 3:16-18Acts 4:18-20Acts 5:29 18So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
19The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before a midwife arrives.”[ † ]Joshua 2:42 Samuel 17:19-20
20So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous.[ † ]Genesis 15:1Ruth 2:12Proverbs 11:18Ecclesiastes 8:12Isaiah 3:10Hebrews 6:10 21And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.[ † ]1 Samuel 2:352 Samuel 7:11-13, 27, 291 Kings 2:241 Kings 11:38Psalms 127:1
22Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”[ † ]Acts 7:19