The Second Book of Moses: Exodus

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- Chapter 1 -

(Genesis 46:7–27)

These were the sons of Jacob (they all went to the land of Egypt with Jacob, their father, and with their own households). The sons’ names were:

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,

Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin,

Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

In all, there were seventy people who went with Jacob. His son Joseph was already in Egypt.

After some time, Joseph and his brothers and everyone else in their family who lived in that generation died.

But Jacob’s descendants gave birth to many children. The number of his descendants grew very large. As a result, there were so many of them that they were everywhere in Egypt.

Oppression by a New King

(Acts 7:15–19)

However, many years later, a new king began to rule in Egypt. He did not know about all the good things Joseph had done for the people of Egypt long ago.

He said to his people, “Look at what has happened! The Israelite people have become so many and so powerful that they are dangerous to us!

We must find a way to control them! If we do not do that, there will be more of them. Then, if enemies attack us, the Israelites will join with our enemies and fight against us, and they will escape from our land.”

So the king and his leaders put masters over the Israelites to cause them to suffer very much by making them work very hard. They made the Israelite people build two cities to store goods for the king. Those cities were named Pithom and Rameses.

But the more they treated the Israelite people badly, the more the number of Israelites grew, and they became so many that they filled the land. So the Egyptian people began to fear the Israelite people.

They made the Israelite people work very hard.

Because the Israelites were slaves, their lives were very sad. They had to build many buildings with cement and bricks. They also had to do work in the fields. In making the Israelites do all this work, the Egyptian masters treated them very badly.

Now there were two Hebrew midwives. Their names were Shiphrah and Puah. The king of Egypt said to those two women,

“When you help the Hebrew women give birth to their children, if the baby is a boy, you must kill him. If the baby is a girl, you may let her live.”

But the midwives feared that God would punish them if they obeyed the king. So they did not do what the king told them to do. They allowed the baby boys to live.

So the king called the two midwives and said to them, “Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the baby boys live?”

One of the midwives said to the king, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. The Hebrew women are very strong. They give birth to their babies before we can get to them to help them.”

So God acted kindly toward the midwives, and the Hebrew people became very numerous and strong.

Because the midwives feared God, God gave them children of their own.

Then the king commanded all the Egyptian people, saying, “You must throw into the Nile River every Hebrew baby boy that is born! However, you can allow the baby girls to live.”

(Genesis 46:7–27)

Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt (every man and his household came with Jacob):

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

All the souls who came out of Jacob’s body were seventy souls, and Joseph was in Egypt already.

Joseph died, as did all his brothers, and all that generation.

The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

Oppression by a New King

(Acts 7:15–19)

Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph.

He said to his people, “Behold,(a) the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.

Come, let’s deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies and fight against us, and escape out of the land.”

Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.

But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They started to dread the children of Israel.

The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve,

and they made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.

The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah,

and he said, “When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”

But the midwives feared God,(b) and didn’t do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive.

The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, “Why have you done this thing and saved the boys alive?”

The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”

God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty.

Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

Footnotes

(a)1:9 “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.

(b)1:17 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).