1Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.

2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

4Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

5And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.

6And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.

7And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.

8Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

9And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:

10Come 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.

11Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

12But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

13And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:

14And 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.

15And 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:

16And 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.

17But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.

18And 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?

19And 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.

20Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.

21And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.

22And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

1Nowe these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, euery man & his household, came with Iacob.

2Reuben, Simeon, Leui, and Iudah,

3Issachar, Zebulun and Beniamin,

4Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

5And all the soules that came out of the loynes of Iacob, were seuentie soules: for Ioseph was in Egypt already.

6And Ioseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.

7 And the children of Israel were fruitfull, and increased aboundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled with them.

8Now there arose vp a new King ouer Egypt, which knew not Ioseph.

9And he said vnto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are moe and mightier then we.

10Come on, let vs deale wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to passe that when there falleth out any warre, they ioyne also vnto our enemies, and fight against vs, and so get them vp out of the land.

11Therefore they did set ouer them task-masters, to afflict them with their burdens: And they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom and Raamses.

12But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew: and they were grieued because of the children of Israel.

13And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serue with rigour.

14And they made their liues bitter, with hard bondage, in morter and in bricke, and in all maner of seruice in the fielde: all their seruice wherein they made them serue, was with rigour.

15 And the King of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwiues, (of which the name of one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah.)

16And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew-women, and see them vpon the stooles, if it be a sonne, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then shee shall liue.

17But the midwiues feared God, and did not as the King of Egypt commanded them, but saued the men children aliue.

18And the King of Egypt called for the midwiues, & said vnto them, Why haue ye done this thing, and haue saued the men children aliue?

19And the midwiues said vnto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women: for they are liuely, and are deliuered ere the midwiues come in vnto them.

20Therefore God dealt well with the midwiues: and the people multiplied and waxed very mighty.

21And it came to passe, because the midwiues feared God, that hee made them houses.

22And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Euery sonne that is borne, yee shall cast into the riuer, and euery daughter ye shall saue aliue.

I == Gen 46:8 ; Ex 6:14

 

V == Gen 46:26-27 ; Ex 1:20 ; Deut 10:22

 

VI == Gen 50:26 ; Acts 7:15

VII == Gen 46:3 ; Deut 26:5 ; Ps 105:24 ; Acts 7:17

 

VIII == Acts 7:18

 

IX == Ps 105:24

 

X == Job 5:13 ; Ps 10:2 ; 83:3-4 ; 105:25 ; Prov 16:25 ; 21:30 ; Acts 7:19

XI == Gen 15:13 ; 47:11 ; Ex 2:11 ; 3:7 ; 5:4-5 ; Deut 26:6 ; Ps 81:6

 

 

 

XIV == Ex 2:23 ; 6:9 ; Num 20:15 ; Ps 81:6 ; Acts 7:19 , 34

 

 

 

XVII == Prov 16:6 ; Dan 3:16 , 18 ; 6:13 ; Acts 5:29

 

 

XIX == 2nd Sam 17:19-20

 

 

XX == Prov 11:18 Ecci 8:12 ; Isa 3:10 ; Heb 6:10

XXI == 1st Sam 2:35 ; 2nd Sam 7:11 , 13 , 27 , 29 ; 1st Kings 2:24 11:38 ; Ps 127:1

XXII == Ex 6:20 ; Num 26:59 ; 1st Chr 23:14 ; Acts 7:19

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who, accompanied by their households, migrated with Jacob into Egypt:

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;

3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;

4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.

5 The total number of the direct descendants of Jacob was seventy. Joseph was already in Egypt.

6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and that whole generation died.

7 But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific. They became so numerous and strong that the land was filled with them.

8 Then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph , came to power in Egypt.

9 He said to his subjects, "Look how numerous and powerful the Israelite people are growing, more so than we ourselves!

10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them to stop their increase; otherwise, in time of war they too may join our enemies to fight against us, and so leave our country."

11 Accordingly, taskmasters were set over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. Thus they had to build for Pharaoh the supply cities of Pithom and Raamses.

12 Yet the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. The Egyptians, then, dreaded the Israelites

13 and reduced them to cruel slavery,

14 making life bitter for them with hard work in mortar and brick and all kinds of field work - the whole cruel fate of slaves.

15 The king of Egypt told the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was called Shiphrah and the other Puah,

16 When you act as midwives for the Hebrew women and see them giving birth, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she may live."

17 The midwives, however, feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt had ordered them, but let the boys live.

18 So the king summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you acted thus, allowing the boys to live?"

19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, "The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are robust and give birth before the midwife arrives."

20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives. The people, too, increased and grew strong.

21 And because the midwives feared God, he built up families for them.

22 Pharaoh then commanded all his subjects, "Throw into the river every boy that is born to the Hebrews, but you may let all the girls live."

There are two different dates for the Exodus, about 1290 B C, for the traditionally accepted and more accurate date of 1448 BC. a. 1 Kings 6:1 states that Solomon began the temple 480 years after the Exodus, 1450 B C. b. Ancient records show that Palestinian Kings requested help from Egypt 1405-1353 B C, because they were being overrun by Habiru, (Hebrews) matching the time of Joshua’s invasion of Palestine. c. Evidence of Archaeology indicates Jericho and Hazor about 1400 B C, other cities not destroyed.
Chronology of major events since Abraham. (Cycle of dates disputed 1 - 2 years.)
2168 Abraham born in Ur of the Chaldees
2093 Abraham leaves Haran when 75 (Gen. 12:4)
2082 Ishmael born when Abraham was 86 (Gen. 16:16)
2068 Isaac born when Abraham was 100 Gen. 16:16)
2008 Jacob and Esau born when Isaac was 60 (Gen. 25:26)
1878 Jacob goes to Egypt (Jacob 130 years old Gen. 47:9)
1528 Moses born
1448 The Exodus (which means going out, or going forth), under Amenhotep #2
In Egypt 430 years, Ex. 12:40, or 400 years round numbers, Gen. 15:13,16.

 

v 1-7. “Now” means “and” linking Genesis with Exodus. There is no certainty as to exactly how they figured 70 people (household-hundreds total), but the important thing was pointing out the relatively small number and how they multiplied rapidly.

 

v 8-10. A different Pharaoh was on the throne when Joseph died than the one he originally served. Joseph was so prominent that he was respected by the rulers as long as he lived. We are not told how many generations later the Egyptians began to be concerned about their number and possible uprising, or how many years they were in bondage before the infanticide under Thutmose #3 began to take place.

 

v 11-14. Cities for storing weapons. The attempt to diminish Israel’s health and control their population by affliction didn’t work, because God made them prolific. The Egyptians only thought to increase the crushing severity of their slave labor. Like Israel, we have the promise of Rom. 8:31, If God be for us, who can be against us?

 

v 15,16. Shiprah is brightness or beauty. Puah is brilliant or splendid. They were over the midwives. In birth sat upon two stools or stones. (Later, special formed chair.) By killing all male babies, the females would soon be assimilated into the Egyptian population. The attempt to murder these boys was but a drop in the bucket compared to present day abortions of both sexes, especially the gruesome partial birth abortions.

 

v 17-21. The midwives lied, at least in some cases, because they deliberately saved the boy babies in spite of Pharaoh. God blessed the midwives with households of their own, not because they lied, but because they feared God.
v 22. Since Pharaoh did not have success with the midwives, he declared open season on Hebrew boy babies, and any Egyptian was authorized to throw them in the river. Perhaps the idea was not just to drown them, but Egyptians worshiped the Nile, and the babies would be an offering to their gods.