Exodus 1:8-2:10

New International Version

⁸ Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.^{(A) 9} “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous^(B) for us.^{(C) 10} Come, we must deal shrewdly^(D) with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”^(E)

¹¹ So they put slave masters^(F) over them to oppress them with forced labor,^(G) and they built Pithom and Rameses^(H) as store cities^(I) for Pharaoh. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³ and worked them ruthlessly.^{(J) 14} They made their lives bitter with harsh labor^(K) in brick^(L) and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.^(M)

¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives,^(N) whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ¹⁶ “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”^{(O) 17} The midwives, however, feared^(P) God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do;^(Q) they let the boys live. ¹⁸ Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

¹⁹ The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”^(R)

²⁰ So God was kind to the midwives^(S) and the people increased and became even more numerous. ²¹ And because the midwives feared^(T) God, he gave them families^(U) of their own.

²² Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile,^(V) but let every girl live.”^(W)

The Birth of Moses

2 Now a man of the tribe of Levi^(X) married a Levite woman,^{(Y) 2} and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine^(Z) child, she hid him for three months.^{(AA) 3} But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus^(AB) basket^[a] for him and coated it with tar and pitch.^(AC) Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds^(AD) along the bank of the Nile. ⁴ His sister^(AE) stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵ Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank.^(AF) She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. ⁶ She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

⁷ Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

⁸ “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. ⁹ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named^(AG) him Moses,^[b] saying, “I drew^(AH) him out of the water.”