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Êxodo 1

BLIVRE · Chapter 1/40

1Estes são os nomes dos filhos de Israel que entraram em Egito com Jacó; cada um entrou com sua família:

2Rúben, Simeão, Levi e Judá;

3Issacar, Zebulom e Benjamim;

4Dã e Naftali, Gade e Aser.

5Assim, todas as pessoas que descenderam do corpo de Jacó foram setenta. Porém José estava no Egito.

6Depois que morreram José, todos os seus irmãos, e toda aquela geração,

7os filhos de Israel cresceram e multiplicaram, e foram aumentados e fortalecidos grandemente; de maneira que a terra encheu-se deles.

8Levantou-se, entretanto, um novo rei sobre o Egito, que não conhecia José.

9Ele disse ao seu povo: Eis que o povo dos filhos de Israel é maior e mais forte que nós;

10Agora, pois, sejamos astutos para com ele, a fim de que não se multiplique, e aconteça que caso venha guerra, ele se alie aos nossos inimigos, lute contra nós, e saia desta terra.

11Então puseram sobre [o povo de Israel] capatazes para os oprimirem com trabalhos forçados; e edificaram a Faraó as cidades de armazenamento, Pitom e Ramessés.

12Porém, quanto mais os oprimiam, mais se multiplicavam e cresciam. Por isso eles detestavam os filhos de Israel.

13Assim os egípcios fizeram os filhos de Israel servirem duramente,

14e amargaram a vida deles com dura servidão, em fazerem barro e tijolos, em todo trabalho do campo, e em todo o seu serviço, ao qual os obrigavam com rigor.

15E o rei do Egito falou às parteiras das hebreias, uma das quais se chamava Sifrá, e outra Puá, e disse-lhes:

16Quando fizerdes o parto das hebreias, e olhardes os assentos, se for filho, matai-o; e se for filha, então viva.

17Mas as parteiras temeram a Deus, e não fizeram como o rei do Egito lhes mandara; em vez disso, preservaram a vida dos meninos.

18E o rei do Egito mandou chamar às parteiras e lhes perguntou: Por que fizestes isto, que preservastes a vida dos meninos?

19As parteiras responderam a Faraó: As mulheres hebreias não são como as egípcias; pois são fortes, de maneira que dão à luz antes que a parteira chegue a elas.

20E Deus fez bem às parteiras. E o povo se multiplicou, e se fortaleceu muito.

21E por as parteiras terem temido a Deus, ele constituiu famílias a elas.

22Então Faraó deu a todo o seu povo a seguinte ordem: Lançai no rio todo filho que nascer, e a toda filha preservai a vida.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jacob's descendants multiply greatly in Egypt; a new pharaoh, fearing Israel's growth, enslaves them with forced labor and orders the Hebrew midwives to kill the newborn baby boys.

Explanation

This chapter opens the book of Exodus with a dramatic reversal: the family that Joseph had saved with honor at the end of Genesis has now become, generations later, a perceived threat in the eyes of a new pharaoh 'who knew not Joseph.' Fear of a foreign people's growing strength leads to systematic oppression, showing how prejudice and political insecurity can breed mass cruelty. In the midst of this escalating violence, the midwives Shiphrah and Puah stand out as quiet heroines who defy the king's order because they fear God more than human authority, and they are rewarded for their courage. The observation that 'the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied' already reveals a central theme of the book: no human oppression can thwart the plans of God. The lesson for today is that integrity and moral courage in the face of unjust orders carry eternal value, even when they seem small against established power.

Fun facts

  • The cities of Pithom and Rameses, built by the Hebrews as 'treasure cities' (v. 11), are mentioned in Egyptian records and identified by archaeologists with real sites in the Nile delta region, linking the biblical account to the documented historical geography of ancient Egypt.
  • The names of the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, are preserved in the text, a notable detail considering that the oppressive pharaoh, one of the most powerful figures in the account, remains nameless — a sign that the Bible values and remembers the acts of courage of ordinary people more than political power.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Êxodo 1:1Exodus opens right where Genesis left off: it repeats the list of Jacob’s sons who came into Egypt with him, each one with his own household, picking up the scene already told in Genesis 46.
  2. Êxodo 1:2It follows the birth order of Leah’s sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, the first four, in the same sequence as Genesis.
  3. Êxodo 1:3Leah’s sons continue with Issachar and Zebulun, and then comes Benjamin, Jacob’s youngest and the only son of Rachel born in Canaan.
  4. Êxodo 1:4The list closes with Dan and Naphtali, sons of Bilhah, and Gad and Asher, sons of Zilpah — Jacob’s four mothers together complete the twelve names.
  5. Êxodo 1:5The total of seventy matches the count in Genesis 46; Joseph was already in Egypt, so he is not counted among those who “came into Egypt” with their father.
  6. Êxodo 1:6An entire generation passes in just a few words: Joseph, his brothers, and that whole generation die, clearing the way for the new setting of the chapter.
  7. Êxodo 1:7Without giving numbers, the text marks the explosive growth of the Hebrew people in Egypt — it is this growth that will worry the new pharaoh next.
  8. Êxodo 1:8A new king rises to the throne with no memory of what Joseph had done for Egypt. It is this loss of memory that changes the until-then peaceful relationship with the Hebrews.
  9. Êxodo 1:9Calling the Hebrews “more and mightier than we” is an exaggeration on Pharaoh’s part, meant to justify the oppression he is about to announce.
  10. Êxodo 1:10Pharaoh’s fear is that the numerous Hebrews will join an enemy in a war and then leave Egypt, taking the slave labor force away with them.
  11. Êxodo 1:11The “taskmasters” were overseers put in charge of exploiting the Hebrews’ forced labor, not ordinary tax collectors. The “treasure cities” were storehouses and warehouses of the Egyptian government, a kind of logistical base for the kingdom, built right in the region where the Hebrews lived. It is on these projects that Pharaoh starts using Israelite slave labor.
  12. Êxodo 1:12Pharaoh’s plan fails: instead of holding the people back, the oppression seems to backfire, and the Egyptians grow even more afraid of them.
  13. Êxodo 1:13It sums up decades of forced labor in a few words: the Egyptians treated the Hebrews with harshness, not as hired workers.
  14. Êxodo 1:14“Mortar” and “brick” describe heavy construction work; “in the field” includes forced farm labor — the summary of the slavery the Hebrews had already been suffering for generations.
  15. Êxodo 1:15Shiphrah and Puah are the only Hebrew midwives named, perhaps leaders of a larger group in charge of delivering the Hebrew women’s babies.
  16. Êxodo 1:16The “stools” were the little bench or pair of stones a Hebrew woman sat or crouched on during childbirth, a common way to give birth at the time. Pharaoh gives the gruesome order right there, at the moment of birth: if it is a boy, kill him; if a girl, let her live. It is the first extermination plan against the Hebrew people, disguised as routine childbirth.
  17. Êxodo 1:17The midwives disobey the order to kill the boys because they fear God more than Pharaoh — the book’s first act of resistance, carried out by two ordinary women.
  18. Êxodo 1:18Pharaoh realizes the order was not carried out and summons the midwives to explain themselves, opening the dialogue of the next verse.
  19. Êxodo 1:19The midwives tell Pharaoh that the Hebrew women are “lively,” meaning strong and quick in labor, and give birth before the midwives can arrive to help. It is the excuse they use to justify why they did not kill the boys as Pharaoh had ordered. There is no way to know whether it was a lie or partly true; the text only records that God rewarded their attitude.
  20. Êxodo 1:20God rewards the midwives’ attitude, and the text again marks the growth of the Hebrew people, now in spite of Pharaoh’s direct persecution.
  21. Êxodo 1:21“He made them houses” means that God gave the midwives families of their own — a common biblical way of describing a reward for faithfulness.
  22. Êxodo 1:22After the midwives get around the earlier order, Pharaoh changes strategy and commands the whole Egyptian people to throw newborn Hebrew boys into the Nile. It is this decree that explains why Moses’s mother has to hide her son and, in the next chapter, risk setting him afloat in a basket.

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