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New Testament
Exodus
Exodus was written by Moses in about 1400 bc. The first fifteen chapters describe events in Egypt. The remaining chapters describe events during the forty years in the wilderness.
The Israelites Oppressed
11These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt. Each man and his household went with Jacob: 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5The total number of Jacob's descendants was seventy people. (Joseph was already in Egypt.)
6Then Joseph died, as did all his brothers and that entire generation. 7However, the Israelites were fruitful, multiplied quickly, increased in number, and became very numerous. So the land was filled with them.
8Then a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9He said to his people, “Look, the Israelites are more numerous and more powerful than we are. 10Let's come up with a wise plan to prevent them from increasing in number. Otherwise, if war breaks out, they would join with our enemies and fight against us. Then they would leave the land.” 11So the Egyptians placed taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. The Israelites built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12But the more the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites, the more they increased in number, and the more they spread out. The Egyptians were filled with dread because of them. 13So the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites by forcing them to work very hard. 14The Egyptians made the Israelites' lives bitter with hard work, with brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. The Egyptians were merciless in the way they imposed work on the Israelites.
15The king of Egypt also spoke to the Hebrew midwives. One of them was named Shiphrah and the other Puah. 16He said, “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, while they are still on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a son, you are to kill him, but if you see that it is a daughter, let her live.” 17The midwives, however, feared God, so they did not do what the king of Egypt told them to do, but they let the boys live.
18The king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why did you do this and let the boys live?”
19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are vigorous, so they give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
20So God treated the midwives well. The people also increased in number and became very numerous. 21Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22Pharaoh, however, commanded all his people, “Every son who is born you shall throw into the Nile, but every daughter you shall let live.”