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These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household:

Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;

Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;

Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

All those who came from Jacob's own body numbered seventy persons, and Joseph was already in Egypt.

Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and that whole generation.

But the Israelites were fruitful and swarmed; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, and the land was filled with them.

Then a new king arose over Egypt, one who did not know Joseph.

He said to his people, "Look, the people of Israel have become more numerous and stronger than we are.

Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will keep multiplying, and if war breaks out they will join our enemies, fight against us, and go up out of the land.

So they set slave masters over them to crush them with heavy burdens, and they built the supply cities of Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh.

But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, until the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.

So the Egyptians made the Israelites serve as slaves with ruthless force,

and made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and brick and with all kinds of work in the fields. In every task they ruthlessly drove them.

Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one named Shiphrah and the other Puah,

"When you help the Hebrew women give birth and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live."

But the midwives feared God, and they did not do as the king of Egypt had ordered them; they let the boys live.

So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?"

The midwives answered Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women. They are vigorous, and they give birth before the midwife reaches them."

So God dealt kindly with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very strong.

And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, "Every boy that is born you shall throw into the Nile, but every girl you shall let live."

Consulta

Resumen3

Capítulo 1

Main Theme: Israel's growth in Egypt and Pharaoh's attempt to oppress and exterminate the people.

Content: Jacob's descendants (70 souls) grew into a mighty nation in Egypt after Joseph's death. A new pharaoh, who did not know Joseph, feared the strength of the Israelites and forced them into hard labor building the store cities of Pithom and Ramses. When this failed to stop their growth, he ordered the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to kill all male infants – but they feared God more than Pharaoh and let the boys live. God blessed the midwives, and finally Pharaoh commanded that every newborn boy be thrown into the Nile.

Key Words/Images:

Fertility and Growth: The Israelites "were fruitful, multiplied greatly, became numerous and very powerful" – fulfilling God's promise to Abraham.
Hard Labor (פָּרֶךְ): Brutal oppression with mortar, bricks, and fieldwork – a picture of the harshness of slavery.
The Midwives' Fear of God: Shiphrah and Puah feared God more than Pharaoh – civil disobedience grounded in faithfulness to God.
The Nile: From a life-giving river to an instrument of death – Pharaoh's final decree to drown the male infants.

Acerca de Éxodo

2. Exodus (Exodus)

About the book: The second book of Moses, also known as Exodus, is the second book in the Bible and consists of 40 chapters. It tells the story of the Israelites' deliverance from slavery in Egypt, the revelation at Mount Sinai, and the establishment of the covenant between God and the people of Israel, with the tabernacle serving as God's dwelling place among them.

Main theme: God's mighty deliverance of His people from bondage and the establishment of a covenant that makes Israel a holy nation of priests with God's presence in their midst.

Content overview:

The Israelites in Egyptian slavery (Chapters 1–2)
Moses' call and mission (Chapters 3–4)
Confrontation with Pharaoh and the plagues (Chapters 5–11)
The departure from Egypt and the Passover celebration (Chapters 12–13)
Crossing the Red Sea and wandering in the wilderness (Chapters 14–18)
God's lawgiving at Mount Sinai (Chapters 19–24)
Instructions for the tabernacle (Chapters 25–31)
The golden calf and renewal of the covenant (Chapters 32–34)
Construction and completion of the tabernacle (Chapters 35–40)

Key themes:

Deliverance: God hears His people's cry and saves them from slavery with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
Covenant: At Sinai, God makes a covenant with Israel and gives them the law as guidance for life as His people.
God's presence: The tabernacle is built as God's dwelling place, where He can live among His people.
God's holiness: Through the laws and the service of the tabernacle, Israel learns about God's holiness and how to approach Him.
Faithfulness and forgiveness: Even when the people sin with the golden calf, God renews the covenant and shows His grace and mercy.

Contexto histórico

Historical and Cultural Context for Exodus 1

People

Pharaoh is mentioned without a name, which is typical for Egyptian kings in biblical texts. The expression "a new king who did not know Joseph" (v. 8) may refer to a dynastic change, a new political era, or a deliberate political distancing from earlier alliances.

Shiphrah and Puah are the two midwives named (v. 15). Their names are Semitic, not Egyptian: Shiphrah (שִׁפְרָה) means "beauty," and Puah (פּוּעָה) may mean "glory" or be related to birth cries. The fact that only two midwives are mentioned for a large people may indicate that they were leaders of a larger group of midwives.

Places

Pithom and Rameses (v. 11) are the store cities built by the Israelites. Rameses (רַעַמְסֵס) is usually identified with Pi-Ramesses in the Nile Delta, built during the reign of Ramesses II (c. 1279–1213 BC). Pithom (פִּתֹם, Egyptian Per-Atum, "House of Atum") is less certain but is often linked to Tell el-Retaba or Tell el-Maskhuta in the Wadi Tumilat. These cities were strategically located in the eastern Delta region, near Goshen where the Israelites lived.

The Nile (הַיְאֹר, ha-ye'or) is mentioned in v. 22 as the place where male infants were to be thrown. The Hebrew word is a loanword from Egyptian (itrw/iteru) and is used specifically for the Nile, not rivers in general.

Events and Customs

Forced labor and slavery are described using several Hebrew terms. The expression sarei missim (שָׂרֵי מִסִּים, "overseers of forced labor") corresponds to the Egyptian institution of organized corvée labor. Egyptian sources from the New Kingdom document the use of Semitic workers (called 'apiru or shasu) in construction projects, which aligns with the biblical account.

The birth stools (הָאָבְנָיִם, ha-ovnajim, literally "the stones") in v. 16 refer to a birthing device consisting of two stones or bricks that a woman sat on during childbirth. This practice is documented in Egyptian texts and illustrations and was common throughout the ancient Near East.

Key Terms

"Hebrew" (עִבְרִיּוֹת/עִבְרִים) is used in this chapter as an external designation (vv. 15, 16, 19), here in the feminine form referring to Hebrew women. The word may be related to 'apiru/'habiru, a social term known from many ancient texts of the second millennium BC for wandering or marginalized groups. In Exodus, it is used especially in conversations with Egyptians.

"With harshness" (בְּפָרֶךְ, be-farekh) in vv. 13–14 is a strong expression for brutal oppression that occurs only in connection with Egyptian slavery and later in the Mosaic Law as a warning against treating others in such a way (Lev 25:43, 46).

Chapter-Specific Findings

Egyptian papyri from the reign of Ramesses II (Leiden Papyrus 348) document the distribution of rations to 'apiru workers who hauled stones for construction projects in Pi-Ramesses. This corresponds remarkably well with the Bible's description of the Israelites' work with bricks and building projects. Egyptian illustrations from tombs in Thebes show Semitic workers engaged in brick production, which aligns with the chapter's description of labor involving clay and bricks (v. 14).

Personas12

Dan (The place name Dan mentioned in Genesis 14:14, not a person)1 Issachar1 Reuben (Leah's son)1 Asher (son of Zilpah)1 Puva1 Zebulun (Leah's son)1 Benjamin (Rachel's son)1 Judah1 Naphtali (Bilhah's son)1 Joseph3 Shiphrah1 Jacob1

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Palabras clave8

Israelites — A people descended from the twelve sons of Israel (Jacob) and chosen by God as His special people.
Egypt — An ancient kingdom in Northeast Africa where the Israelites lived as slaves under Pharaoh's rule.
Pharaoh's daughter — The daughter of the Egyptian king, Pharaoh, who finds Moses in a basket on the river and raises him as her own son.
Moses — A central figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was born an Israelite but grew up in the Egyptian royal household and later led the Israelites out of Egypt toward the Promised Land.
Hebrews — Another name for the Israelites, often used in Exodus 2.
Slavery — A condition in which people are treated as property and forced to work without pay or freedom.
Midian — An area in the Middle East where Moses fled after killing an Egyptian and later met God at the burning bush.
Burning bush — A bush that appears to burn without being consumed, where God reveals Himself to Moses and gives him the task of leading the Israelites out of Egypt.