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Monday, August 25th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
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World English Bible

Exodus 1:20

God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew 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.
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

15 The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah, 16 and 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." 17 But the midwives feared God, and didn't do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive. 18 The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and have saved the men-children alive?" 19 The 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." 20 God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. 21 It happened, because the midwives feared God, that he gave them families. 22 Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, "You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save 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
God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse, and it was so.
Genesis 1:14
God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;
Genesis 1:22
God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."
Genesis 1:24
God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind," and it was so.
Genesis 1:25
God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:30
To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food." And it was so.
Genesis 2:19
Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
Genesis 8:17
Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, cattle, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth."
1 Kings 4:33
He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fish.
Psalms 148:10
Wild animals and all cattle; Small creatures and flying birds;

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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