Parallel Bible results for "exodus 1"

Exodus 1

Common English Bible CEB

1 These are the names of the Israelites who came to Egypt with Jacob along with their households:

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

5 The total number in Jacob's family was seventy. Joseph was already in Egypt.

6 Eventually, Joseph, his brothers, and everyone in his generation died.

7 But the Israelites were fertile and became populous. They multiplied and grew dramatically, filling the whole land.

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

9 He said to his people, "The Israelite people are now larger in number and stronger than we are.

10 Come on, let's be smart and deal with them. Otherwise, they will only grow in number. And if war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and then escape from the land."

11 As a result, the Egyptians put foremen of forced work gangs over the Israelites to harass them with hard work. They had to build storage cities named Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh.

12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they grew and spread, so much so that the Egyptians started to look at the Israelites with disgust and dread.

13 So the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites.

14 They made their lives miserable with hard labor, making mortar and bricks, doing field work, and by forcing them to do all kinds of other cruel work.

15 The king of Egypt spoke to two Hebrew midwives named Shiphrah and Puah:

16 "When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth and you see the baby being born, if it's a boy, kill him. But if it's a girl, you can let her live."

17 Now the two midwives respected God so they didn't obey the Egyptian king's order. Instead, they let the baby boys live.

18 So the king of Egypt called the two midwives and said to them, "Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the baby boys live?"

19 The two midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because Hebrew women aren't like Egyptian women. They're much stronger and give birth before any midwives can get to them."

20 So God treated the midwives well, and the people kept on multiplying and became very strong.

21 And because the midwives respected God, God gave them households of their own.

22 Then Pharaoh gave an order to all his people: "Throw every baby boy born to the Hebrews into the Nile River, but you can let all the girls live."

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."