Exodus 1:16-18

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

¹⁶ “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon 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 them, but let the male children live. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called the midwives, and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?”