Jacob’s people were in Egypt with his son, Joseph, and there were 70 people in all with the rest of his sons. During that time, Joseph, his brothers, and all the others died, but the Israelites had a lot of children. A new king came to rule over Egypt and said, “The Israelites have been strong that they are a threat to us now. In case of any battle, they will join our enemies in fighting against us to escape from this country. We shall find a way to keep these men from becoming more numerous.” The Egyptians put slave drivers over them to crush their spirits with hard labor. The Israelites built the cities of Pithom and Rameses to serve as the king’s supply centers. But the more the Egyptians put pressure on the Israelites, they grew in large numbers and spread out across the land.
The Egyptians feared the Israelites and made their lives miserable by forcing them into cruel slavery and making them work on their building projects and in their fields. The king of Egypt spoke to the two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, who were in charge of the Hebrew women, “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, if it is a boy, kill the baby, but if it is a girl, let her live.” But the God-fearing midwives didn’t listen to the king’s commands; they let the boys live. God was good to them and gave more families of their own. The king of Egypt issued a proclamation to all his people: “Take every newborn Hebrew boy for throwing him into the Nile, and let all the girls live.”