| NET Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1These are the names of the sons of Israel who entered Egypt--each man with his household entered with Jacob: | 1These are the names of the sons of Israel (that is, Jacob) who moved to Egypt with their father, each with his family: |
| 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, | 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, |
| 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, | 3Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, |
| 4Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. | 4Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. |
| 5All the people who were directly descended from Jacob numbered seventy. But Joseph was already in Egypt, | 5In all, Jacob had seventy descendants in Egypt, including Joseph, who was already there. |
| 6and in time Joseph and his brothers and all that generation died. | 6In time, Joseph and all of his brothers died, ending that entire generation. |
| 7The Israelites, however, were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong, so that the land was filled with them. | 7But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land. |
| 8Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power over Egypt. | 8Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. |
| 9He said to his people, "Look at the Israelite people, more numerous and stronger than we are! | 9He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. |
| 10Come, let's deal wisely with them. Otherwise they will continue to multiply, and if a war breaks out, they will ally themselves with our enemies and fight against us and leave the country." | 10We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country. ” |
| 11So they put foremen over the Israelites to oppress them with hard labor. As a result they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. | 11So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king. |
| 12But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread. As a result the Egyptians loathed the Israelites, | 12But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became. |
| 13and they made the Israelites serve rigorously. | 13So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy. |
| 14They made their lives bitter by hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous. | 14They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all their demands. |
| 15The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, | 15Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah: |
| 16"When you assist the Hebrew women in childbirth, observe at the delivery: If it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she may live." | 16“When you help the Hebrew women as they give birth, watch as they deliver. If the baby is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.” |
| 17But the midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. | 17But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king’s orders. They allowed the boys to live, too. |
| 18Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this and let the boys live?" | 18So the king of Egypt called for the midwives. “Why have you done this?” he demanded. “Why have you allowed the boys to live?” |
| 19The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women--for the Hebrew women are vigorous; they give birth before the midwife gets to them!" | 19“The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women,” the midwives replied. “They are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time.” |
| 20So God treated the midwives well, and the people multiplied and became very strong. | 20So God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful. |
| 21And because the midwives feared God, he made households for them. | 21And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. |
| 22Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, "All sons that are born you must throw into the river, but all daughters you may let live." | 22Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River. But you may let the girls live.” |
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