Exodus 1 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 These were the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob) who came with him to Egypt along with their families:
1 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt (every man and his household came with Jacob):
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,
3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
5 Jacob had 70 descendants there, including Joseph who was already in Egypt.
5 All the souls who came out of Jacob’s body were seventy souls, and Joseph was in Egypt already.
6 Eventually Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died.
6 Joseph died, as did all his brothers, and all that generation.
7 However, the Israelites had many children and their numbers increased rapidly. In fact there were so many of them that they became very powerful—the country was full of them.
7 The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.
8 Then a new king came to power who didn't know anything about Joseph.
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph.
9 He conferred with his fellow Egyptians and said, “Look at these Israelites—there are more of them than us, and they're more powerful than us.
9 He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.
10 Let's deal wisely with them before they become so many that if there's a war they'll side with our enemies and fight us, and flee the country.”
10 Come, let’s deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies and fight against us, and escape out of the land.”
11 So the Egyptians made them do forced labor and put taskmasters in charge of them. They used them to build the storage towns of Pithom and Rameses.
11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.
12 But the more the Israelites were mistreated, the more they grew in numbers and spread out—and the more the Egyptians detested them.
12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They started to dread the children of Israel.
13 The Egyptians worked the Israelites brutally,
13 The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve,
14 making their lives a misery. They made them do hard labor, building with mortar and brick, and all kinds of heavy work in the fields. In all of this hard labor they treated them brutally.
14 and they made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.
15 Then the king gave orders to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah.
15 The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah,
16 He told them, “When you assist the Hebrew women during childbirth, if you see it's a boy, kill him; but if it's a girl, let her live.”
16 and he said, “When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
17 But because the midwives revered God, they didn't do what the king of Egypt had ordered. They let the boys live as well.
17 But the midwives feared God, and didn’t do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive.
18 The king of Egypt called the midwives in and demanded to know, “Why have you done this— letting the male children live?”
18 The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, “Why have you done this thing and saved the boys alive?”
19 “Hebrew women aren't like Egyptian women,” the midwives told Pharaoh. “They give birth more easily—they have them before we midwives arrive.”
19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
20 God treated the midwives well, and the people increased in number so there were even more of them.
20 God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty.
21 Because the midwives revered God, he gave them families of their own.
21 Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
22 Then Pharaoh issued this order to all his people: “Throw every Hebrew boy that's born into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
22 Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Puah
One of the two Hebrew midwives who feared God and refused Pharaoh's order to kill the Hebrew boys, and whom God rewarded with families of their own.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 1:15–21
Shiphrah
One of the two Hebrew midwives who feared God and refused Pharaoh's order to kill the Hebrew boys, and whom God rewarded with families of their own.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 1:15–21
Cross references (20)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Genesis 46:8–26; 1 Chronicles 2:1–2; Genesis 35:23–26; Exodus 6:14–16; Genesis 49:3–27
- 2 Genesis 35:22
- 3 Exodus 28:20; Genesis 35:23
- 5 Deuteronomy 10:22; Genesis 46:26–27; Judges 8:30; Exodus 1:20
- 6 Genesis 50:26; Acts 7:14–16; Genesis 50:24
- 7 Genesis 46:3; Deuteronomy 26:5; Genesis 1:28; Genesis 35:11; Genesis 9:1
- 8 Acts 7:18; Ecclesiastes 2:18–19; Ecclesiastes 9:15
- 9 Psalm 105:24–25; James 3:14–16; Ecclesiastes 4:4; Proverbs 14:28; Proverbs 27:4
- 10 Acts 7:19; Psalm 83:3–4; Proverbs 1:11; Psalm 105:25; Psalm 10:2
- 11 Genesis 15:13; Genesis 47:11; Exodus 3:7; Exodus 2:11; Deuteronomy 26:6
- 12 Psalm 105:24; Exodus 1:9; Romans 8:28; Acts 5:28–33; Acts 4:2–4
- 13 Deuteronomy 4:20
- 14 Acts 7:19; Numbers 20:15; Exodus 2:23; Exodus 6:9; Acts 7:34
- 16 Exodus 1:22; Matthew 21:38
- 17 Acts 5:29; Exodus 1:21; Luke 12:5; Ecclesiastes 12:13; Matthew 10:28
- 18 Ecclesiastes 8:4; 2 Samuel 13:28
- 19 Joshua 2:4–24; 2 Samuel 17:19–20; 1 Samuel 21:2
- 20 Isaiah 3:10; Ecclesiastes 8:12; Proverbs 11:18; Psalm 111:5; Exodus 1:12
- 21 1 Kings 11:38; 1 Samuel 2:35; Psalm 37:3; Ecclesiastes 8:12; 2 Samuel 7:27–29
- 22 Acts 7:19; Proverbs 1:16; Psalm 105:25; Proverbs 4:16; Revelation 16:4–6
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… power rigorously upon the children of Israel; and they made life bitter to them by severe labours, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field which they did, by all the works in which they oppressed them with rigour." And with immense labour they built for them fenced cities, increasing the substance of these …
And again, did not that very nation, when making bricks in Egypt, also serve hard rulers, not only in gold and silver, but also in clay? If you were never in bondage to any man, ungrateful people, why is it that God is continually reminding you that He delivered you from the house of bondage?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)