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Exodus 1

Exodus opens with Israel’s growth under oppression, the midwives’ fear of God, and Pharaoh’s escalating assault on Hebrew children.

Joseph and his brothers have died, and their descendants have grown into a large people in Egypt. A new king who does not know Joseph treats Israel’s growth as a threat and imposes harsh labor. When oppression fails to reduce their numbers, he orders the midwives Shiphrah and Puah to kill Hebrew boys at birth. They fear God and preserve the children’s lives. God deals well with them, but Pharaoh widens his murderous command to all his people.

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1Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt (every man and his household came with Jacob):
3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
5All the souls who came out of Jacob’s body were seventy souls, and Joseph was in Egypt already.
6Joseph died, as did all his brothers, and all that generation.
7The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.
8Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph.
9He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.
10Come, let’s deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies and fight against us, and escape out of the land.”
11Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.
12But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They started to dread the children of Israel.
14and they made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.
16and he said, “When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
17But the midwives feared God, and didn’t do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive.
19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
20God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty.
21Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
22Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Exodus 1:7Israel’s growth establishes the central tension: the people flourish in Egypt, and their numbers become Pharaoh’s stated reason for oppression.
Exodus 1:10Pharaoh presents oppression as prudent policy, using the prospect of war and escape to justify control over Israel.
Exodus 1:22The closing command extends Pharaoh’s killing policy to all his people, leaving Hebrew boys under an open threat of death.
Where this chapter reaches

Genesis supplies the family history behind the opening names and the promise of descendants that Israel’s growth carries forward. Acts recounts the same oppression in Egypt, including a king’s ignorance of Joseph and the exposure of infants under his rule.

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After reading the whole chapter

What changes as Pharaoh moves from forced labor to commanding all his people to kill Hebrew boys?

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What stands out about the midwives’ fear of God when set beside Pharaoh’s fear of Israel?

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Questions people ask about Exodus 1

Who was the Pharaoh in Exodus 1?

Exodus 1 does not name the king or give enough information to identify him with certainty. It describes him as a new ruler who did not know Joseph. His role in the account is clear: he treats Israel’s growth as a threat and orders oppression and infanticide.

Why did Shiphrah and Puah disobey Pharaoh?

The text states that the midwives feared God, so they refused the king’s command to kill the baby boys. Their allegiance to God governed their response to royal authority. When Pharaoh questioned them, they said the Hebrew women gave birth before their arrival. God dealt well with them and gave them families.

Did the midwives lie in Exodus 1?

The chapter records their explanation that Hebrew women gave birth before a midwife arrived, but it does not state whether this explanation was true in every case. The narrator identifies their fear of God as the reason God gave them families. The text offers no explicit approval of deception.

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Exodus · 40 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).