Exodus 1:8-2:10

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

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

⁹ He said to his people, Behold, the Israelites are too many and too mighty for us [and they ^[a]outnumber us both in people and in strength].

¹⁰ Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply more and, should war befall us, they join our enemies, fight against us, and escape out of the land.

¹¹ So they set over [the Israelites] taskmasters to afflict and oppress them with [increased] burdens. And [the Israelites] built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

¹² But the more [the Egyptians] oppressed them, the more they multiplied and expanded, so that [the Egyptians] were vexed and alarmed because of the Israelites.

¹³ And the Egyptians reduced the Israelites to severe slavery.

¹⁴ They made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar, brick, and all kinds of work in the field. All their service was with harshness and severity.

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

¹⁶ When you act as midwives 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, but let the male babies live.

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

¹⁹ The midwives answered Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; they are vigorous and quickly delivered; their babies are born before the midwife comes to them.

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

²¹ And because the midwives revered and feared God, He made them households [of their own].

²² Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son born [to the Hebrews] you shall cast into the river [Nile], but every daughter you shall allow to live.

2 Now [Amram] a man of the house of Levi [the priestly tribe] went and took as his wife [Jochebed] a daughter of Levi.^(A)

² And the woman became pregnant and bore a son; and when she saw that he was [exceedingly] beautiful, she hid him three months.^(B)

³ And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark or basket made of bulrushes or papyrus [making it watertight by] daubing it with bitumen and pitch. Then she put the child in it and laid it among the rushes by the brink of the river [Nile].

⁴ And his sister [Miriam] stood some distance away to ^[b]learn what would be done to him.

⁵ Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked along the bank; she saw the ark among the rushes and sent her maid to fetch it.

⁶ When she opened it, she saw the child; and behold, the baby cried. And she took pity on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children!

⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call a nurse of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?

⁸ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the girl went and called the child’s mother.

⁹ Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages. So the woman took the child and nursed it.

¹⁰ And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she called him Moses, for she said, Because I drew him out of the water.