Exodus 1

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

The sons of Jacob who went to Egypt with him along with their families were

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,

3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin,

4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

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

Altogether there were 70 people [who went with] Jacob. That included his [sons, his grandsons, and two great-grandsons]. [His son] Joseph was already in Egypt.

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

[Eventually] Joseph and his [older and younger] brothers and everyone [else in their family who lived] (in that generation/at that time) died.

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

But Jacob’s descendants kept giving birth to many children [IDM]. The number [of his descendants] kept becoming larger and larger. As a result, there were so many of them that they were everywhere in Egypt (OR, that they [became a threat] to the Egyptians).

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

Then [several hundred years later], a new king began to rule [MTY] in Egypt. He did not know [what] Joseph [had done for the people of Egypt long ago].

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

He said to his people, “Look [at what has happened]! The Israeli people have become so numerous and so powerful that they [now might conquer] us!

10 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.”

We must find a way to control them! If we do not do that, their population will continue to grow. Then, if enemies [PRS] attack us, they will join with our enemies and fight against us, and they will escape from [our] land.”

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

So [the king and his officials] put supervisors over the Israeli people to cause them to suffer very much by [forcing them] to work very hard. They forced [the Israeli people to] build [two] cities, Pithom and Ramses, in which to store [supplies for the king/government].

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

But the more cruelly they treated the [Israeli people], the bigger the Israeli [population] grew, and they became more numerous all over [the land]. So the Egyptian people began to be afraid of the Israeli people.

13 The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve,

They forced the Israeli people to work very hard,

14 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.

and by making them slaves, they made their lives miserable. They [forced them] to [build many buildings with] mortar and bricks. [They also forced them to do] other work in the fields. [In making them do all this work, the Egyptian officials treated them] ruthlessly/cruelly.

15 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,

There were two Hebrew (midwives/women who helped the women when they were giving birth). [Hebrew means the same as Israeli.] The names of the women were Shiphrah and Puah. The king of Egypt said to [those two women],

16 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.”

“When you help the Hebrew women when they are giving birth [MTY], if [the baby that is born] is a boy, you must kill it. If [the baby] is a girl, you (may let it live/do not have to kill them).”

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

But the midwives feared/revered God. So they did not do what the king told them to do. They allowed the baby boys to live.

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

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

19 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.”

[One of] the midwives replied to the king, “[You need to realize that] the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. The Hebrew women are very strong/healthy. They give birth [to their babies] before we can get to them [to help them].”

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

So God acted kindly toward the midwives, and the [Hebrew] people became even more numerous and strong.

21 Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

Furthermore, because the midwives feared/revered God, he enabled them also to give birth to children.

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

Then the king commanded all (the [Egyptian] people/his [advisors]): “You must throw into the Nile [River] every baby boy born that the [Hebrew women] give birth to! But you can allow the baby girls to live.”