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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>Exodus 1 New American Bible</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/exodus/1.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcc/exodus/1-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NABRE</a> > Exodus 1</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../genesis/50.htm" title="Genesis 50">◄</a> Exodus 1 <a href="../exodus/2.htm" title="Exodus 2">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New American Bible Revised Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><section id="ch02001" class="chapter"> <h1 class="bksect">I. <span class="ac">Introduction: The Oppression of the Israelites in Egypt</span></h1> <h1 id="cn02001" class="cn"></h1> <p class="pf"><span class="hemb">Jacob’s Descendants in Egypt.</span> <span id="v02001001" class="ver">1</span>These are the names of the sons of Israel<a id="rfn02001001-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn02001001-1">*</a> who, accompanied by their households, entered into Egypt with Jacob: <span id="v02001002" class="ver">2</span><a id="rfn02001002-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn02001002-1">*</a> Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; <span id="v02001003" class="ver">3</span>Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; <span id="v02001004" class="ver">4</span>Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. <span id="v02001005" class="ver">5</span>The total number of Jacob’s direct descendants<a id="rfn02001005-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn02001005-1">*</a> was seventy.<a id="ren02001005-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en02001005-a">a</a> Joseph was already in Egypt.</p> <p><span id="v02001006" class="ver">6</span>Now Joseph and all his brothers and that whole generation died.<a id="ren02001006-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en02001006-b">b</a> <span id="v02001007" class="ver">7</span>But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific. They multiplied and became so very numerous that the land was filled with them.<a id="rfn02001007-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn02001007-1">*</a></p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">The Oppression.</span> <span id="v02001008" class="ver">8</span><a id="ren02001008-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en02001008-c">c</a> Then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph,<a id="rfn02001008-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn02001008-1">*</a> rose to power in Egypt. <span id="v02001009" class="ver">9</span>He said to his people, “See! The Israelite people have multiplied and become more numerous than we are! <span id="v02001010" class="ver">10</span>Come, let us deal shrewdly with them to stop their increase;<a id="rfn02001010-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn02001010-1">*</a> otherwise, in time of war they too may join our enemies to fight against us, and so leave the land.”</p> <p><span id="v02001011" class="ver">11</span>Accordingly, they set supervisors over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor.<a id="ren02001011-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en02001011-d">d</a> Thus they had to build for Pharaoh<a id="rfn02001011-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn02001011-1">*</a> the garrison cities of Pithom and Raamses. <span id="v02001012" class="ver">12</span>Yet the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians began to loathe the Israelites. <span id="v02001013" class="ver">13</span>So the Egyptians reduced the Israelites to cruel slavery, <span id="v02001014" class="ver">14</span>making life bitter for them with hard labor, at mortar<a id="rfn02001014-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn02001014-1">*</a> and brick and all kinds of field work—cruelly oppressed in all their labor.</p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Command to the Midwives.</span> <span id="v02001015" class="ver">15</span>The king of Egypt told the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was called Shiphrah and the other Puah, <span id="v02001016" class="ver">16</span>“When you act as midwives for the Hebrew women, look on the birthstool:<a id="rfn02001016-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn02001016-1">*</a> if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she may live.” <span id="v02001017" class="ver">17</span>The midwives, however, feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt had ordered them, but let the boys live. <span id="v02001018" class="ver">18</span>So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this, allowing the boys to live?” <span id="v02001019" class="ver">19</span>The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are robust and give birth before the midwife arrives.” <span id="v02001020" class="ver">20</span>Therefore God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and grew very numerous. <span id="v02001021" class="ver">21</span>And because the midwives feared God, God built up families for them. <span id="v02001022" class="ver">22</span>Pharaoh then commanded all his people, “Throw into the Nile every boy that is born,<a id="ren02001022-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en02001022-e">e</a> but you may let all the girls live.”</p> </section> <br /><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="intro.htm"><span class="ac">Book Introduction</span></a></h1><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="footnotes.htm"><span class="ac">Footnotes</span></a></h1></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the <i>New American Bible, revised edition</i> © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. 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