Lectionary Calendar
Monday, July 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Literal Standard Version

Exodus 1:20

And God does good to the midwives, and the people multiply, and are very mighty;

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Integrity;   Israel;   Midwifery;   Oppression;   Servant;   Usurpation;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Egypt;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Exodus;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Abortion;   Lie, Lying;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Pharaoh;   Puah;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Shiphrah;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Exodus, Book of;   Midwife;   Shiphrah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Exodus;   Moses;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Quotations;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Israel in Egypt;   Midwives;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Puah;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Egypt;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Shiph'rah;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Enslavement, the;   Encampment at Sinai;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Exodus, the;   Exodus, the Book of;   Midwife;   Puah;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Amalekites;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Sidra;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty.
King James Version
Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
Lexham English Bible
And God did the midwives good, and the Israelite people became many and were very numerous.
New Century Version
God was good to the nurses. And the Hebrew people continued to grow in number, so they became even stronger.
New English Translation
So God treated the midwives well, and the people multiplied and became very strong.
Amplified Bible
So God was good to the midwives, and the people [of Israel] multiplied and became very strong.
New American Standard Bible
So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty.
Geneva Bible (1587)
God therefore prospered the midwiues, and the people multiplied and were very mightie.
Legacy Standard Bible
So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very mighty.
Contemporary English Version
God was good to the two women because they truly respected him, and he blessed them with children of their own. The Hebrews kept increasing
Complete Jewish Bible
Therefore God prospered the midwives, and the people continued to multiply and grow very powerful.
Darby Translation
And God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong.
Easy-to-Read Version
The nurses trusted God, so he was good to them and allowed them to have their own families. The Hebrews continued to have more children, and they became very strong.
English Standard Version
So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.
George Lamsa Translation
Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, because they spared the males; and the people multiplied, and grew exceedingly strong.
Good News Translation
Because the midwives were God-fearing, God was good to them and gave them families of their own. And the Israelites continued to increase and become strong.
Christian Standard Bible®
So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very numerous.
Literal Translation
And God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became exceedingly strong.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Therfore God dealt well with the mydwyues. And the people multiplied, and became exceadinge mightie.
American Standard Version
And God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
Bible in Basic English
And the blessing of God was on these women: and the people were increased in number and became very strong.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And God dealt well therefore with the mydwyfes: and the people multiplied and waxed very myghtie.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
King James Version (1611)
Therefore God dealt well with the midwiues: and the people multiplied and waxed very mighty.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And God did well to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very strong.
English Revised Version
And God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
Berean Standard Bible
So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor God dide wel to medewyues; and the puple encreesside, and was coumfortid greetli.
Young's Literal Translation
And God doth good to the midwives, and the people multiply, and are very mighty;
Update Bible Version
And God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
Webster's Bible Translation
Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and became very mighty.
World English Bible
God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty.
New King James Version
Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty.
New Living Translation
So God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful.
New Life Bible
So God was good to the nurses. And the people became many and strong.
New Revised Standard
So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So then God dealt well with the midwives, - and the people multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied and grew exceedingly strong.
Revised Standard Version
So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and grew very strong.
THE MESSAGE
God was pleased with the midwives. The people continued to increase in number—a very strong people. And because the midwives honored God, God gave them families of their own.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty.

Contextual Overview

15And the king of Egypt speaks to the midwives, the Hebrewesses (of whom the name of the first [is] Shiphrah, and the name of the second Puah), 16and says, "When you cause the Hebrew women to bear, and have looked on the children, if it [is] a son, then you have put him to death; and if it [is] a daughter, then she has lived." 17And the midwives fear God, and have not done as the king of Egypt has spoken to them, and they keep the boys alive; 18and the king of Egypt calls for the midwives and says to them, "Why have you done this thing, and keep the boys alive?" 19And the midwives say to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women [are] not as the Egyptian women, for they [are] lively; before the midwife comes to them—they have borne!" 20And God does good to the midwives, and the people multiply, and are very mighty;21and it comes to pass, because the midwives have feared God, that He makes households for them; 22and Pharaoh lays a charge on all his people, saying, "Every son who is born—you cast him into the River, and every daughter you keep alive."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

God: Psalms 41:1, Psalms 41:2, Psalms 61:5, Psalms 85:9, Psalms 103:11, Psalms 111:5, Psalms 145:19, Proverbs 11:18, Proverbs 19:17, Ecclesiastes 8:12, Isaiah 3:10, Matthew 10:42, Matthew 25:40, Luke 1:50, Hebrews 6:10

the people: Exodus 1:7, Exodus 1:12

Reciprocal: Exodus 1:5 - seventy Job 12:23 - increaseth Ecclesiastes 8:5 - keepeth Acts 7:17 - the people

Cross-References

Genesis 1:7
And God makes the expanse, and it separates between the waters which [are] under the expanse, and the waters which [are] above the expanse: and it is so.
Genesis 1:14
And God says, "Let luminaries be in the expanse of the heavens, to make a separation between the day and the night, then they have been for signs, and for appointed times, and for days and years,
Genesis 1:22
And God blesses them, saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the bird multiply in the earth":
Genesis 1:24
And God says, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, livestock and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind": and it is so.
Genesis 1:25
And God makes the beast of the earth after its kind, and the livestock after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, and God sees that [it is] good.
Genesis 1:30
and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to every creeping thing on the earth, in which [is] breath of life, every green herb [is] for food": and it is so.
Genesis 2:19
And YHWH God forms from the ground every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens, and brings [them] to the man, to see what he calls it; and whatever the man calls a living creature, that [is] its name.
Genesis 8:17
and they have teemed in the earth, and been fruitful, and have multiplied on the earth."
1 Kings 4:33
and he speaks concerning the trees, from the cedar that [is] in Lebanon, even to the hyssop that is coming out in the wall, and he speaks concerning the livestock, and concerning the bird, and concerning the creeping things, and concerning the fishes,
Psalms 148:10
The wild beast, and all livestock, || Creeping thing, and winged bird,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Wherefore God dealt well with the midwives,.... He approved of their conduct upon the whole, however difficult it may be to clear them from all blame in this matter; though some think that what they said was the truth, though they might not tell all the truth; yea, that they made a glorious confession of their faith in God, and plainly told the king, that it was nothing but the immediate hand of God that the Hebrew women were so lively and strong, and therefore were resolved not to oppose it, let him command what he would; so Dr. Lightfoot r, who takes the midwives to be Egyptians:

and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty; became very numerous, and strong, and robust, being the offspring of such lively women.

r Works, vol. 1. p. 700.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 1:20. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. — This shows an especial providence and blessing of God; for though in all cases where females are kept to hard labour they have comparatively easy and safe travail, yet in a state of slavery the increase is generally very small, as the children die for want of proper nursing, the women, through their labour, being obliged to neglect their offspring; so that in the slave countries the stock is obliged to be recruited by foreign imports: yet in the case above it was not so; there was not one barren among their tribes, and even their women, though constantly obliged to perform their daily tasks, were neither rendered unfruitful by it, nor taken off by premature death through the violence and continuance of their labour, when even in the delicate situation mentioned above.


 
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