Exodus 1:7   (Read all of Exodus 1)

but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

Exodus 1:9   (Read all of Exodus 1)

"Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become far too numerous for us.

Exodus 1:10   (Read all of Exodus 1)

Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country."

Exodus 1:11   (Read all of Exodus 1)

So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

Exodus 1:12   (Read all of Exodus 1)

But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites

Exodus 1:15   (Read all of Exodus 1)

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,

Exodus 1:16   (Read all of Exodus 1)

"When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live."

Exodus 1:18   (Read all of Exodus 1)

Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?"

Exodus 1:20   (Read all of Exodus 1)

So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous.

Exodus 2:2   (Read all of Exodus 2)

and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.

Exodus 2:3   (Read all of Exodus 2)

But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

Exodus 2:4   (Read all of Exodus 2)

His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

Exodus 2:5   (Read all of Exodus 2)

Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it.

Exodus 2:6   (Read all of Exodus 2)

She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said.

Exodus 2:7   (Read all of Exodus 2)

Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?"

Exodus 2:8   (Read all of Exodus 2)

"Yes, go," she answered. So the girl went and got the baby's mother.

Exodus 2:9   (Read all of Exodus 2)

Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you." So the woman took the baby and nursed him.

Exodus 2:10   (Read all of Exodus 2)

When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."

Exodus 2:11   (Read all of Exodus 2)

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.

Exodus 2:12   (Read all of Exodus 2)

Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Exodus 2:13   (Read all of Exodus 2)

The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, "Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?"

Exodus 2:14   (Read all of Exodus 2)

The man said, "Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid and thought, "What I did must have become known."

Exodus 2:15   (Read all of Exodus 2)

When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.

Exodus 2:16   (Read all of Exodus 2)

Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father's flock.