Exodus 1:13-20

13and they made the Israelites serve rigorously.

14They made their lives bitter by hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous.

15The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,

16“When you assist the Hebrew women in childbirth, observe at the delivery: If it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she may live.”

17But the midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.

18Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”

19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women – for the Hebrew women are vigorous; they give birth before the midwife gets to them!”

20So God treated the midwives well, and the people multiplied and became very strong.