Passage

Exodus 1.16

Book: Exodus · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"14. and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, wherein they made them serve with rigor. 15. And the king of Egypt spake 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 ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the birth-stool; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him; but if it be a daughter, then she shall live."

"17. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men-children alive. 18. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men-children alive?" (Exodus 1:14-18, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"14. and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve. 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 boys alive?”" (Exodus 1:14-18, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"14. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour. 15. And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:"

"16. And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live."

"17. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. 18. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?" (Exodus 1:14-18, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"14. and make their lives bitter in hard service, in clay, and in brick, and in every [kind] of service in the field; all their service in which they have served [is] with rigour. 15. And the king of Egypt speaketh to the midwives, the Hebrewesses, (of whom the name of the one [is] Shiphrah, and the name of the second Puah),"

"16. and saith, 'When ye cause the Hebrew women to bear, and have looked on the children; if it [is] a son, then ye have put him to death; and if it [is] a daughter, then she hath lived.'"

"17. And the midwives fear God, and have not done as the king of Egypt hath spoken unto them, and keep the lads alive; 18. and the king of Egypt calleth for the midwives, and saith to them, 'Wherefore have ye done this thing, and keep the lads alive?'" (Exodus 1:14-18, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

Hardening Pharaohs Heart Objection Defeater

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.