The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
King James Version KJV
1 These are the names of the sons of Isra'el who came into Egypt with Ya'akov; each man came with his household:
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Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.
2 Re'uven, Shim'on, Levi, Y'hudah,
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Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,
3 Yissakhar, Z'vulun, Binyamin,
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Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
4 Dan, Naftali, Gad and Asher.
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Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
5 All told, there were seventy descendants of Ya'akov; Yosef was already in Egypt.
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And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.
6 Yosef died, as did all his brothers and all that generation.
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And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.
7 The descendants of Isra'el were fruitful, increased abundantly, multiplied and grew very powerful; the land became filled with them.
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And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt. He knew nothing about Yosef
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Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
9 but said to his people, "Look, the descendants of Isra'el have become a people too numerous and powerful for us.
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And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:
10 Come, let's use wisdom in dealing with them. Otherwise, they'll continue to multiply; and in the event of war they might ally themselves with our enemies, fight against us and leave the land altogether."
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Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.
11 So they put slavemasters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built for Pharaoh the storage cities of Pitom and Ra'amses.
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Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and expanded, until the Egyptians came to dread the people of Isra'el
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But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.
13 and worked them relentlessly,
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And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:
14 making their lives bitter with hard labor -digging clay, making bricks, all kinds of field work; and in all this toil they were shown no mercy.
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And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
15 Moreover, the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was called Shifrah and the other Pu'ah.
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And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:
16 "When you attend the Hebrew women and see them giving birth," he said, "if it's a boy, kill him; but if it's a girl, let her live."
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And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.
17 However, the midwives were God-fearing women, so they didn't do as the king of Egypt ordered but let the boys live.
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But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.
18 The king of Egypt summoned the midwives and demanded of them, "Why have you done this and let the boys live?"
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And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?
19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, "It's because the Hebrew women aren't like the Egyptian women -they go into labor and give birth before the midwife arrives."
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And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.
20 Therefore God prospered the midwives, and the people continued to multiply and grow very powerful.
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Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
21 Indeed, because the midwives feared God, he made them founders of families.
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And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.
22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every boy that is born, throw in the river; but let all the girls live."
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And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The King James Version is in the public domain.