Exodus 1
About ExodusWritten by AI
Exodus is the story of rescue. It picks up where Genesis leaves off, with Jacob's family grown into a people now enslaved in Egypt. God hears their cry, calls Moses at a burning bush, breaks Pharaoh's grip through the plagues and the Passover, and leads Israel through the sea to Mount Sinai.
Jewish and Christian tradition credit the book to Moses. Many scholars think it took its final shape later, and the date of the exodus itself is debated, but the story is told as Israel's founding memory.
The second half moves from freedom to covenant: the Ten Commandments, laws for daily life, and detailed plans for the tabernacle, the tent where God would live among His people. Watch for God's name, “I AM WHO I AM”, for the golden calf and God's mercy after it, and for the glory filling the tent at the end.
Before you read Exodus 1Written by AI
Joseph's family has multiplied in Egypt, and a new king who does not know Joseph fears them. He forces them into hard labor, then orders the Hebrew midwives to kill the baby boys. Watch the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah: they fear God more than Pharaoh, and God honors them.
The Israelites Multiply in Egypt
These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
Dan and Naphtali;
Gad and Asher.
The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt.
Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and increased rapidly; they multiplied and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.
Oppression by a New King
Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt. “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become too numerous and too powerful for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase even more; and if a war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”
So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.
They worked the Israelites ruthlessly and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. Every service they imposed was harsh.
Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.”
The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before a midwife arrives.”
So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.
Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”