14 and made their lives bitter with hard labor with mortar and brick, doing all sorts of work in the fields. In all their labors they worked them with cruelty.
15 Moreover the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,
16 and said, “When you help the Hebrew women during childbirth, look at the sex. If it’s a son, then kill him, but if it’s a daughter, she may live.”
17 Yet the midwives feared God, so they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the boys live.
18 So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this—let the boys live?”
19 The midwives told Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women. They are like animals, and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
20 So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, growing very numerous.