15 The king of Egypt spoke to two Hebrew midwives named Shiphrah and Puah:
16 "When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth and you see the baby being born, if it’s a boy, kill him. But if it’s a girl, you can let her live."
17 Now the two midwives respected God so they didn’t obey the Egyptian king’s order. Instead, they let the baby boys live.
18 So the king of Egypt called the two midwives and said to them, "Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the baby boys live?"
19 The two midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because Hebrew women aren’t like Egyptian women. They’re much stronger and give birth before any midwives can get to them."
20 So God treated the midwives well, and the people kept on multiplying and became very strong.
21 And because the midwives respected God, God gave them households of their own.