Exodus 1:17-19

New King James Version

¹⁷ But the midwives ^(A)feared God, and did not do ^(B)as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?”

¹⁹ And ^(C)the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they ^[a]are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”