The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Exodus
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Chapter 1
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1
Here are the names of Israel’s sons; these were the men who betook themselves to Egypt, each with his family, when Jacob went there;
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Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Juda,
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Issachar, Zabulon and Benjamin,
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Dan and Nephthali, Gad and Aser.
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There were seventy souls altogether that came from Jacob’s stock, but of these, Joseph was in Egypt already.
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When he and his brethren and all their next descendants were dead,
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the race of Israel grew into a teeming multitude, in such strength that the whole land was peopled with them.
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Meanwhile, a new king of Egypt had arisen, who knew nothing of Joseph.
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See, he said to his people, how the race of the Israelites has grown, till they are stronger than we are.
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We must go prudently about it and keep them down, or their numbers will grow; what if war threatens, and they make common cause with our enemies? They will get the better of us, and leave our country altogether.
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So he made them answerable to officers of the public works, who laid crushing burdens on them, using them to build the store-cities of Phithom and Ramesses;
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but the more they were ill-treated, the more they bred and multiplied.
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The Egyptians, in their abhorrence for the Israelites, oppressed and insulted them,
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making their lives a burden with drudgery in the clay-pit and the brick-kiln, drudgery, too, of all kinds in the cultivation of the land.
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Then the king of Egypt gave orders to Sephora and Phua, the midwives who attended the Hebrews;
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When you are called in, he said, to attend the Hebrew women, and their time comes, kill the child if it is a boy; if it is a girl keep it alive.
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But these midwives feared the Lord, and would not carry out the commands of the king of Egypt; they kept the boys safe;
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and when the king summoned them and asked, What do you mean by sparing the boys too?
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they answered, The Hebrew women are not like those of Egypt; they are skilled in midwifery, and contrive to give birth before we reach them.✻
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For this, God rewarded the midwives; while his people grew and attained great strength,
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he gave the midwives, too, families of their own, as women who feared God.
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And at last Pharao made a proclamation to the whole of his people: Whenever a male child is born, cast it into the river, keep only the girls alive.
