Parallel Bible results for "Exodus 1"

Exodus 1

The Message Bible MSG

1 These are the names of the Israelites who went to Egypt with Jacob, each bringing his family members:

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

5 Seventy persons in all generated by Jacob's seed. Joseph was already in Egypt.

6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers - that whole generation.

7 But the children of Israel kept on reproducing. They were very prolific - a population explosion in their own right - and the land was filled with them. "A New King . . . Who Didn't Know Joseph"

8 A new king came to power in Egypt who didn't know Joseph.

9 He spoke to his people in alarm, "There are way too many of these Israelites for us to handle.

10 We've got to do something: Let's devise a plan to contain them, lest if there's a war they should join our enemies, or just walk off and leave us."

11 So they organized them into work-gangs and put them to hard labor under gang-foremen. They built the storage cities Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh.

12 But the harder the Egyptians worked them the more children the Israelites had - children everywhere! The Egyptians got so they couldn't stand the Israelites

13 and treated them worse than ever, crushing them with slave labor.

14 They made them miserable with hard labor - making bricks and mortar and back-breaking work in the fields. They piled on the work, crushing them under the cruel workload.

15 The king of Egypt had a talk with the two Hebrew midwives; one was named Shiphrah and the other Puah.

16 He said, "When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the sex of the baby. If it's a boy, kill him; if it's a girl, let her live."

17 But the midwives had far too much respect for God and didn't do what the king of Egypt ordered; they let the boy babies live.

18 The king of Egypt called in the midwives. "Why didn't you obey my orders? You've let those babies live!"

19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, "The Hebrew women aren't like the Egyptian women; they're vigorous. Before the midwife can get there, they've already had the baby."

20 God was pleased with the midwives. The people continued to increase in number - a very strong people.

21 And because the midwives honored God, God gave them families of their own.

22 So Pharaoh issued a general order to all his people: "Every boy that is born, drown him in the Nile. But let the girls live."

English Standard Version ESV

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household:

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

5 All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt.

6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.

7 But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

9 And he said to his people, "Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.

10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land."

11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.

12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.

13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves

14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

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

16 "When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live."

17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.

18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this, and let the male children live?"

19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them."

20 So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.

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

22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, "Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live."