Exodus 1

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt. 6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 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 (Acts 7:15–19) 8 Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt. 9 “ Look,” he said to his people, “ the Israelites have become too numerous and too powerful for us. 10 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.” 11 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. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. 13 They worked the Israelites ruthlessly 14 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. 15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “ 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.” 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live. 18 So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “ Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” 19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “ The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before a midwife arrives.” 20 So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own. 22 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.”

✦ What the text says

## Summary Exodus 1 narrates the transition from the patriarchal era to slavery: it lists the sons of Israel who came to Egypt, states that Joseph's generation died, describes the explosive growth of the Israelites, and recounts a new Pharaoh's escalating measures — forced labor, then an order to midwives, then a command to all Egyptians — to suppress that growth. ## Key words - *paru* ("they were fruitful", H6509) — qal perfect, verse 7; a completed-action verb opening a chain of four verbs describing population growth. - *yishretzu* ("they swarmed", H8317) — qal narrative form, verse 7; a verb elsewhere used of small creatures multiplying, applied here to human population increase. - *chadash* ("new", H2319H) — masculine singular adjective, verse 8, modifying *melekh* ("king", H4428G); marks the narrative break between the Joseph era and the oppression era. - *befarekh* ("with harshness", H6531) — noun, verses 13 and 14; repeated to frame the description of forced labor. - *vatire'na... et-ha'Elohim* ("they feared... God", H3372H + H0430G) — qal perfect, verse 17; explains the midwives' motive for disobeying the king's order, repeated again in verse 21. ## What the text says The chapter opens with a construct chain, *shemot benei Yisra'el* ("names of the sons of Israel", H8034/H1121A), listing individuals by name (vv. 1–4), then shifts in verse 5 to a summary statement using *nefesh* ("person", H5315J) in a construct phrase, *kol-nefesh yotze'ei yerekh-Ya'aqov* ("every person who came out of the thigh of Jacob"), an idiom for descent, totaling *shiv'im* ("seventy", H7657). Verse 7 stacks four qal verbs (*paru*, *yishretzu*, *yirbu*, *ya'atzmu*) intensified by the doubled adverb *bi-me'od me'od* ("exceedingly", H3966 repeated), a grammatical device conveying accelerating, uncontrollable growth rather than a single act. The new king's speech (vv. 9–10) uses the cohortative *nitchakemah* ("let us deal wisely", H2449) followed by a purpose clause with *pen* ("lest", H6435), showing his reasoning is fear-driven strategy rather than simple hostility. The narrative sequence in verses 11–14 moves from appointing *sarei missim* ("overseers of slave gangs", H8269/H4522) to naming specific labor (*chomer*, "mortar", H2563A; *levenim*, "bricks", H3843), closing with the same phrase *befarekh* used earlier, framing the oppression. The midwives' account (vv. 15–21) is built on reported speech and repeated causal clauses with *ki* ("that/because", H3588

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.