16 And he said to them, 'When you are going to give birth to a Hebrew woman, see that if there is a son, kill him, and if there is a daughter, let him live.'

17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt told them, and let the children live.

18 The king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, "Why do you do such a thing, that you let the children live?"

19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like those of Egypt; they are well, for before the midwife comes to them, they are already giving birth.

20 Wherefore God did good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and mightily increased.

21 And because the midwives feared God, he built their houses.

22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Cast every newborn son into the river, and let every daughter live."

Chapter 2

1 A man of the tribe of Levi went and took a wife from the same tribe.

2 And the woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was very handsome, she hid him for three months;

3 but not being able to hide it any longer, she took a basket of reeds, and tarred it with asphalt and pitch, and put the child in it, and set it in the reeds by the bank of the river,

4 And his sister began to observe afar off what would become of him.

5 And Pharaoh's daughter went out into the river to wash, and her maids walked along the bank of the river. She saw a basket among the reeds, and sent her maidservant to take it.

6 She opened it, and saw the child; and behold, the child is crying [in the basket]; And she had compassion on him [Pharaoh's daughter] and said, "This is one of the Hebrew children."