Exodus 1:13-20

13They worked the Israelites ruthlessly

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.

15The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives — the first, whose name was Shiphrah, and the second, whose name was 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.”

17The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.

18So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this and let the boys 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.”

20So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very numerous.