Exodus 1:15-22

New Century Version

¹⁵ Two Hebrew nurses, named Shiphrah and Puah, helped the Israelite women give birth to their babies. The king of Egypt said to the nurses, ¹⁶ “When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth to their babies, watch! If the baby is a girl, let her live, but if it is a boy, kill him!” ¹⁷ But the nurses feared God, so they did not do as the king told them; they let all the boy babies live. ¹⁸ Then the king of Egypt sent for the nurses and said, “Why did you do this? Why did you let the boys live?”

¹⁹ The nurses said to him, “The Hebrew women are much stronger than the Egyptian women. They give birth to their babies before we can get there.” ²⁰ God was good to the nurses. And the Hebrew people continued to grow in number, so they became even stronger. ²¹ Because the nurses feared God, he gave them families of their own.

²² So the king commanded all his people, “Every time a boy is born to the Hebrews, you must throw him into the Nile River, but let all the girl babies live.”