Exodus 1:15

Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

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KJV

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:

ASV

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:

YLT

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),

DBT

And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives — of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other was Puah —

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On this verse

And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives,.... It is difficult to say who these midwives were, whether Egyptian or Hebrew women.

John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed

Related commentary

Hebrew midwifes - Or midwives of the Hebrew women. This measure at once attested the inefficacy of the former measures, and was the direct cause of the event which issued in the deliverance of Israel, namely, the exposure of Moses. The women bear Egyptian names, and were probably Egyptians.

Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)evangelical

And the king spake to the Hebrew midwives - The two chief of them. They are called Hebrew midwives, probably not because they were themselves Hebrews; for sure Pharaoh could never expect they should be so barbarous to those of their own nation, but because they were generally made use of by the Hebrews, and being Egyptians he hoped to prevail with them.

John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765evangelical

The two midwives he tampered with in order hereunto are here named; and perhaps, at this time, which was above eighty years before their going out of Egypt, those two might suffice for all the Hebrew women, at least so many of them as lay near the court, as it is plain by ch. ii.

Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan

A recital of the names of the twelve patriarchs, as they are called, Acts vii. Their names are often repeated in scripture, that they may not sound uncouth to us, as other hard names, but that, by their occurring so frequently, they may become familiar to us; and to show how precious God's spiritual Israel are to him, and how much he delights in them.

Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan

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Cross-references

1 linked verse

The verses this one reaches1

Joshua 2:6
(But Rahab had taken them up to the roof and hidden them among the stalks of flax that she had laid out there.)

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Around this verse

Word doors

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

Who & where

PlaceThe NileEgyptThe house of famine-refuge that becomes the house of bondage — the land Israel is planted in to await the exodus.

Featured studies

Featured studyExodus — the Study GuideThis study walks through this verse.

About this book

The Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Exodus — Deliverance, covenant, presence. A slave-people redeemed from Egypt, brought to Sinai, and given a tabernacle so that God might dwell among them.

Canon: Old Testament
Author: Moses — traditional attribution; internal narrator identifies Moses as recorder (17:14, 24:4, 34:27)
Date: 15th or 13th century BC, depending on chronology of the exodus