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Exodus 1:19

Verse 19 of 22. The 1st of 40 chapters in Exodus, in The Law.

15The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah,

16and he said, “When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”

17But the midwives feared God, and didn’t do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive.

18The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, “Why have you done this thing and saved the boys alive?”

19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”

20God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty.

21Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

22Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

Read Exodus 1

World English Bible. Public domain. Set as prose throughout, including the poetry, because the text is published to us without its lines.