Exodus 1:10-22

10Come, let us 1deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and 2in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and 3depart from the land.” 11So they appointed 4taskmasters over them to afflict them with 56hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh 7storage cities, Pithom and 8Raamses. 12But the more they afflicted them, 9the more they multiplied and the more they 10spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel. 13The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel 11to labor rigorously; 14and they made 12their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously 13imposed on them.

15Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom 14was named Shiphrah and the other 15was named Puah; 16and he said, “When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, 16if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” 17But the midwives 1718feared God, and 19did not do as the king of Egypt had 20commanded them, but let the boys live. 18So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?” 19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife 21can get to them.” 20So 22God was good to the midwives, and 23the people multiplied, and became very 24mighty. 21Because the midwives 2526feared God, He 2728established 29households for them. 22Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “30Every son who is born 31you are to cast into 32the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.”