1
And these are the names of the sons of Yisra’el who came into Mitzrayim with Yaaqov; each ish came with his house:
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Reuven, Shimon, Levi, and Yehudah,
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Yissakhar, Zevulun, and Binyamin,
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Dan and Naftali, Gad and Asher.
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And all the persons who came forth from the body of Yaaqov were seventy persons. And Yosef was already in Mitzrayim.
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And Yosef died, and all his brothers, and all that generation.
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And the sons of Yisra’el were fruitful, and swarmed, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.
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And a new king arose over Mitzrayim who did not know Yosef.
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And he said to his people, “See, the people of the sons of Yisra’el are more numerous and mightier than we.
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Come, let us deal wisely against them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass when war is called against us that they also join themselves to those who hate us, fight against us, and go up from the land.”
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And they set over them masters of forced labor, to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities: Pitom and Raamses.
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But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread. And the Mitzrim were filled with dread before the sons of Yisra’el.
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And the Mitzrim made the sons of Yisra’el serve with severity.
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And they made their lives bitter with hard service, with mortar and with brick, and with every service in the field—all their service in which they made them serve with severity.
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And the king of Mitzrayim spoke to the Ivrit midwives, of whom the name of the first was Shifrah, and the name of the second Puah.
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And he said, “When you serve as midwives for the Ivrit women and see them upon the birth-stones: if it is a son, then put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
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But the midwives feared Elohim and did not do according to what the king of Mitzrayim had spoken to them, and they kept the male children alive.
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And the king of Mitzrayim called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing and kept the male children alive?”
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And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Ivrit women are not like the Mitzrit women, for they are vigorous. Before the midwife comes to them, they have already brought forth.”
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And Elohim dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and became exceedingly mighty.
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And it came to pass, because the midwives feared Elohim, that He established houses for them.
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And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born, you shall cast into the River; but every daughter you shall keep alive.”