1 And these are the names {shemot: personal designations} of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt {mitsrayimah: Egypt, the Nile land} with Jacob; each man and his household came.
2 Reuben {reuven: son of seeing}, Simeon, Levi {levi: joined one}, and Judah.
3 Issachar {yissakhar: reward bringer}, Zebulun {zevulun: dwelling place}, and Benjamin,
4 Dan and Naphtali {naphtali: my struggle}, Gad {gad: good fortune} and Asher.
5 All the persons {nefesh: individual lives} who came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt {Mitsrayim: Egypt, the Nile land}.
6 And Joseph died, and all his brothers {achav: kin-group}, and all that generation {dor: era or epoch}.
7 And the sons of Israel were fruitful and swarmed and increased and became exceedingly {meod: with abundant intensity} mighty, so that the land {haarets: the entire territory} was filled with them.
8 After that, a new{chadash: newly installed} king took the throne over Egypt{Mitsrayim: Nile region}, and he did not acknowledge Joseph.
9 And he said to his people, “Behold {hinneh: attention signal} the people of the sons {benei: lineage designation} of Israel are more numerous and stronger than us.”
10 Come, let us deal shrewdly{nitchaqmah: act with calculated wisdom} with them, lest they multiply, and if war{milchamah: armed conflict} should break out, they will also join our enemies, fight against us, and go up out of the land.
11 So they placed officials {sarei: overseers of labor} over them in order to oppress them with their burdens {sivlotam: heavy loads}, and they built store cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Rameses.
12 And as they afflicted them, so they multiplied {yirbeh: increased dramatically}, and so they broke through {yiprots: surged outward}, and they recoiled because of the sons of Israel.
13 And the Egyptians {mitsrayim: Nile kingdom} made the sons of Israel serve harshly {befarekh: cruel rigor}.
14 And they made their lives bitter with hard labor {avodah: backbreaking service} in mortar and brick and in every kind of field work; all their service which they imposed upon them was with ruthless severity {pharekh: relentless oppression}.
15 The king of Egypt said to the midwives {meyalledot: birth attendants} of the Hebrew women {ha-ivriyot: Israelite mothers}, one named Shiphrah and the other Puah.
16 And he said, “When you deliver the Hebrew women {ha-ivriyot: descendants of Eber} and see them on the birthstools {ha-avnayim: birthing stones}, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
17 But the midwives feared God {Elohim, Sovereign Protector} and did not do as the king of Egypt {melech Mitsrayim: Royal Oppressor} commanded; they let the male children live.
18 And the king of Egypt {melekh-mitsrayim: royal authority} called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this matter {davar: deliberate action} and kept the male children alive?”
19 And the midwives {hamyalledot: birth attendants} said to Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous {chayot: robust vigor}, and before the midwife arrives, they have given birth.”
20 So God {Elohim, Benevolent Upholder} was good to the midwives {meyalledot: birth assistants}, and the people increased and became exceedingly strong.
21 When the midwives feared God {Elohim, Supreme Judge}, He made households {batim: enduring family lines} for them.
22 Pharaoh commanded his people: “When every son {ben: male child} is born to the Hebrews, throw him into the Nile {hayeorah: great river}, but let every daughter live.”