Exodus 1:22

22 And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you will throw into the Nile, and every daughter you will let live."

Exodus 1:22 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 1:22

And Pharaoh charged all his people
Finding he could not carry his point with the midwives, he gave a general order to all his people everywhere:

saying, every son that is born ye shall cast into the river;
the river Nile; not every son born in his kingdom, for this would have ruined it in time; but that was born to the Jews, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; and it is added in the Septuagint version, to the Hebrews:

and every daughter ye shall save alive;
for the reasons given (See Gill on Exodus 1:16).

Exodus 1:22 In-Context

20 And God did the midwives good, and the [Israelite] people became many and were very numerous.

21 {And so} because the midwives feared God, he gave them {families}.

22 And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you will throw into the Nile, and every daughter you will let live."