The One Year Bible for Women - Flipbook - Page 80
January 25
our sin.” When Joseph received the message,
he broke down and wept. 18 Then his brothers
came and threw themselves down before Jo
seph. “Look, we are your slaves!” they said.
19 But Jo
seph replied, “Don’t be afraid of
me. Am I God, that I can punish you? 20 You
intended to harm me, but God intended it all
for good. He brought me to this position so I
could save the lives of many people. 21 No, don’t
be afraid. I will continue to take care of you
and your children.” So he reassured them by
speaking kindly to them.
22 So Joseph and his brothers and their fami
lies continued to live in Egypt. Joseph lived
to the age of 110. 23 He lived to see three generations of descendants of his son Ephraim,
and he lived to see the birth of the children of
Manasseh’s son Makir, whom he claimed as
his own.*
24 “Soon I will die,” Joseph told his brothers,
“but God will surely come to help you and lead
you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you
back to the land he solemnly promised to give
to Abraham, to I saac, and to Jacob.”
25 Then Jo
seph made the sons of Israel
swear an oath, and he said, “When God comes
to help you and lead you back, you must take
my bones with you.” 26 So Joseph died at the
age of 110. The Egyptians embalmed him, and
his body was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
1:1 These are the names of the sons of Israel
(that is, Jacob) who moved to Egypt with their
father, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon,
Levi, Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin,
4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 In all, Jacob
had seventy* descendants in Egypt, including
Joseph, who was already there.
6 In time, Joseph and all of his brothers died,
ending that entire generation. 7 But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children
and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so
greatly that they became extremely powerful
and filled the land.
8 Eventually, a new king came to power
in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph
or what he had done. 9 He said to his people,
“Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us
and are stronger than we are. 10 We must make
a plan to keep them from growing even more.
If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join
our enemies and fight against us. Then they
will escape from the country.*”
11 So the Egyptians made the Israelites their
slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers
over them, hoping to wear them down with
crushing labor. They forced them to build
the cities of Pithom and Rames es as supply
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centers for the king. 12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites
multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed
the Egyptians became. 13 So the Egyptians
worked the people of Israel without mercy.
14 They made their lives bitter, forcing them
to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the
work in the fields. They were ruthless in all
their demands.
15 Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this
order to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and
Puah: 16 “When you help the Hebrew women
as they give birth, watch as they deliver.* If
the baby is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her
live.” 17 But because the midwives feared God,
they refused to obey the king’s orders. They allowed the boys to live, too.
18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives. “Why have you done this?” he demanded.
“Why have you allowed the boys to live?”
19 “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women,” the midwives replied. “They are
more vigorous and have their babies so quickly
that we cannot get there in time.”
20 So God was good to the midwives, and
the I sraelites continued to multiply, growing
more and more powerful. 21 And because the
midwives feared God, he gave them families
of their own.
22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his
people: “Throw every newborn Hebrew boy
into the Nile River. But you may let the girls
live.”
2:1 About
this time, a man and woman from
the tribe of Levi got married. 2 The woman
became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She
saw that he was a special baby and kept him
hidden for three months. 3 But when she could
no longer hide him, she got a basket made of
papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar
and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and
laid it among the reeds along the bank of the
Nile River. 4 The baby’s sister then stood at a
distance, watching to see what would happen
to him.
5 Soon Pharaoh’s daughter came down to
bathe in the river, and her attendants walked
along the riverbank. When the princess saw
the basket among the reeds, she sent her maid
to get it for her. 6 When the princess opened it,
she saw the baby. The little boy was crying,
and she felt sorry for him. “This must be one
of the Hebrew children,” she said.
7 Then the baby’s sister approached the
princess. “Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” she
asked.
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