| Christian Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; each came with his family: | 1These are the names of the sons of Israel (that is, Jacob) who moved to Egypt with their father, each with his family: |
| 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; | 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, |
| 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; | 3Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, |
| 4Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. | 4Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. |
| 5The total number of Jacob's descendants was seventy; Joseph was already in Egypt. | 5In all, Jacob had seventy descendants in Egypt, including Joseph, who was already there. |
| 6Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation eventually died. | 6In time, Joseph and all of his brothers died, ending that entire generation. |
| 7But the Israelites were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous so that the land was filled with them. | 7But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land. |
| 8A new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. | 8Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. |
| 9He said to his people, "Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are. | 9He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. |
| 10Come, let's deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and when war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country." | 10We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country. ” |
| 11So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh. | 11So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king. |
| 12But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. | 12But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became. |
| 13They worked the Israelites ruthlessly | 13So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy. |
| 14and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them. | 14They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all their demands. |
| 15The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives--the first whose name was Shiphrah and the second whose name was Puah-- | 15Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives, 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's a daughter, she may live." | 16“When you help the Hebrew women as they give birth, watch as they deliver. If the baby is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.” |
| 17The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. | 17But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king’s orders. They allowed the boys to live, too. |
| 18So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this and let the boys live?" | 18So the king of Egypt called for the midwives. “Why have you done this?” he demanded. “Why have you allowed the boys to live?” |
| 19The midwives said to Pharaoh, "The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them." | 19“The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women,” the midwives replied. “They are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time.” |
| 20So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very numerous. | 20So God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful. |
| 21Since the midwives feared God, he gave them families. | 21And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. |
| 22Pharaoh then commanded all his people: "You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile, but let every daughter live." | 22Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River. But you may let the girls live.” |
| The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
|
