Parallel Bible results for "exodus 1"

Exodus 1

The Bible in Basic English BBE

1 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt; every man and his family came with Jacob.

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;

3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;

4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

5 All the offspring of Jacob were seventy persons: and Joseph had come to Egypt before them.

6 Then Joseph came to his end, and all his brothers, and all that generation.

7 And the children of Israel were fertile, increasing very greatly in numbers and in power; and the land was full of them.

8 Now a new king came to power in Egypt, who had no knowledge of Joseph.

9 And he said to his people, See, the people of Israel are greater in number and in power than we are:

10 Let us take care for fear that their numbers may become even greater, and if there is a war, they may be joined with those who are against us, and make an attack on us, and go up out of the land.

11 So they put overseers of forced work over them, in order to make their strength less by the weight of their work. And they made store-towns for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses.

12 But the more cruel they were to them, the more their number increased, till all the land was full of them. And the children of Israel were hated by the Egyptians.

13 And they gave the children of Israel even harder work to do:

14 And made their lives bitter with hard work, making building-material and bricks, and doing all sorts of work in the fields under the hardest conditions.

15 And the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew women who gave help at the time of childbirth (the name of the one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah),

16 When you are looking after the Hebrew women in childbirth, if it is a son you are to put him to death; but if it is a daughter, she may go on living.

17 But the women had the fear of God, and did not do as the king of Egypt said, but let the male children go on living.

18 And the king of Egypt sent for the women, and said to them, Why have you done this, and let the male children go on living?

19 And they said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are strong, and the birth takes place before we come to them.

20 And the blessing of God was on these women: and the people were increased in number and became very strong.

21 And because the women who took care of the Hebrew mothers had the fear of God, he gave them families.

22 And Pharaoh gave orders to all his people, saying, Every son who comes to birth is to be put into the river, but every daughter may go on living.

Good News Translation GNT

1 The sons of Jacob who went to Egypt with him, each with his family, were

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,

3 Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin,

4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

5 The total number of these people directly descended from Jacob was seventy. His son Joseph was already in Egypt.

6 In the course of time Joseph, his brothers, and all the rest of that generation died,

7 but their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and became so numerous and strong that Egypt was filled with them.

8 Then, a new king, who knew nothing about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.

9 He said to his people, "These Israelites are so numerous and strong that they are a threat to us.

10 In case of war they might join our enemies in order to fight against us, and might escape from the country. We must find some way to keep them from becoming even more numerous."

11 So the Egyptians put slave drivers over them to crush their spirits with hard labor. The Israelites built the cities of Pithom and Rameses to serve as supply centers for the king.

12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites, the more they increased in number and the farther they spread through the land. The Egyptians came to fear the Israelites

13 and made their lives miserable by forcing them into cruel slavery. They made them work on their building projects and in their fields, and they had no pity on them.

15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to Shiphrah and Puah, the two midwives who helped the Hebrew women.

16 "When you help the Hebrew women give birth," he said to them, "kill the baby if it is a boy; but if it is a girl, let it live."

17 But the midwives were God-fearing and so did not obey the king; instead, they let the boys live.

18 So the king sent for the midwives and asked them, "Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the boys live?"

19 They answered, "The Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they give birth easily, and their babies are born before either of us gets there."

20 Because the midwives were God-fearing, God was good to them and gave them families of their own. And the Israelites continued to increase and become strong.

22 Finally the king issued a command to all his people: "Take every newborn Hebrew boy and throw him into the Nile, but let all the girls live."