¹Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt. Each man and his household came with Jacob: ²Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, ³Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin, ⁴Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. ⁵And the number of all the people who came out of Jacob's thighs was seventy people, while Joseph was in Egypt. ⁶And Joseph died, as did all his brothers and all that generation, ⁷but the sons of Israel were fruitful, and they abounded and increased and became strong in number to a very great extent, and the land was filled with them. ⁸And a new king arose over Egypt, who had not known Joseph, ⁹and he said to his people, “Look, the people of the sons of Israel is more numerous and stronger than we are. ¹⁰Come on, let us act wisely with them so that they don't increase, for it might be that a war befalls us, and they might for their part be a reinforcement to those that hate us, and that fight us and go up from the land.” ¹¹And they appointed tribute-masters over them in order to afflict them with their burdens, and they built cities of storehouses for Pharaoh: Pithom and Rameses. ¹²But the more they afflicted them, the more they increased and the more they expanded, and they felt revulsion at the sons of Israel. ¹³Then the Egyptians made the sons of Israel serve with rigour, ¹⁴and they made their lives bitter with hard work, work with mortar and bricks and all kinds of outdoor work. All their work which they imposed on them was with rigour. ¹⁵Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, the name of one of whom was Shiphrah, and the name of the other was Puah, ¹⁶and he said, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, you will see the sex by the presence or absence of the testicles. If it is a son, you will kill him, but if it is a daughter, she will live.” ¹⁷But the midwives feared God, and they did not do what the king of Egypt said to them, and they let the children live. ¹⁸Then the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing and let the children live?” ¹⁹And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “It is because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are lively, and before the midwife comes to them, they have given birth.” ²⁰And God treated the midwives well, and the people increased and became very strong. ²¹Then it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he built up the people into family house lines. ²²Then Pharaoh commanded all his people and said, “As for every son born, cast him into the river, but let every daughter live.”