Exodus 1:18

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

Why have: 2 Samuel 13:28, Ecclesiastes 8:4

Cross-References

Psalms 19:6
His going forth is from the end of the heavens, His circuit to the ends of it; There is nothing hid from the heat of it.

Jeremiah 31:35
Thus says Yahweh, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that the waves of it roar; Yahweh of hosts is his name:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the king called for the midwives,.... Perceiving, by the increase of the Israelites, that they did not obey his commands:

and said unto them, why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? not only did not kill them, but did everything for them that was necessary for their future preservation and health; see

Ezekiel 16:4.