Exodus 1:17

World English Bible

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

feared God: Genesis 20:11, Genesis 42:18, Nehemiah 5:15, Psalms 31:19, Proverbs 8:13, Proverbs 16:6, Proverbs 24:11, Proverbs 24:12, Ecclesiastes 8:12, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Daniel 3:16-18, Daniel 6:13, Hosea 5:11, Micah 6:16, Matthew 10:28, Luke 12:5, Acts 4:19, Acts 5:29

Reciprocal: Leviticus 25:43 - but shalt 1 Samuel 19:17 - He said 1 Samuel 22:17 - would not 2 Samuel 13:28 - commanded 2 Samuel 24:4 - went out 1 Kings 21:11 - did as Jezebel 1 Chronicles 21:4 - Wherefore Esther 3:3 - Why Proverbs 31:30 - a woman Ecclesiastes 8:5 - keepeth Malachi 3:5 - fear Matthew 2:12 - they departed

Cross-References

Genesis 9:13
I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth.

Job 38:12
"Have you commanded the morning in your days, And caused the dawn to know its place;

Psalms 8:1
<> Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, Who has set your glory above the heavens!

Psalms 8:3
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, The moon and the stars, which you have ordained;

Acts 13:47
For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, 'I have set you as a light of the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.'"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But the midwives feared God,.... And therefore durst not take away the life of an human creature, which was contrary to the express law of God, Genesis 9:6:

and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them; knowing it was right to obey God rather than man, though ever so great, or in so exalted a station:

but saved the men children alive; did not use any violence with them, by stifling them in the birth. The scheme was so barbarous and shocking, especially to the tender sex, to whom it was proposed, and so devoid of humanity, that one would think it should never enter into the heart of man.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 1:17. The midwives feared God — Because they knew that God had forbidden murder of every kind; for though the law was not yet given, Exodus 20:13, being Hebrews they must have known that God had from the beginning declared, Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, Genesis 9:6. Therefore they saved the male children of all to whose assistance they were called. Exodus 1:19; Exodus 1:19.