Exodus 1:16
in Exodus 1“When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Exodus 1
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThus too it has been said that the Pharaoh of Egypt was a type of the devil, in that he cruelly ordered the males to be cast into the Nile and permitted the females to live. So too the devil, ruling over the great Egypt of the world "from Adam unto Moses," made an effort to carry off and destroy the male and rational offspring of the soul in the flood of the passions, while he takes delight in seeing the carnal and sensual offspring increase and multiply.
This site's exposition
spake to the Hebrew midwives
on Exodus 1:15-16
Two midwives are given names, Shiphrah and Puah, and the king who summons them is not, which is how the chapter distributes weight. Whether they were Hebrew women or Egyptian women who attended the Hebrews has been argued from the phrase itself and from the names, and the older commentators divide over it. The word rendered stools occurs in one other place in the Hebrew Bible, Jeremiah 18:3, where it is the potter's wheels, and Adam Clarke takes it for a birthing stone or trough. Pharaoh's second measure moves from work to birth, and it asks women to kill the children they are called in to deliver.
This site's exposition
observe them on the birthstools
The king moves from forced labor to killing, ordering the midwives to kill every Hebrew boy at birth. The Hebrew word rendered birthstools occurs elsewhere only in Jeremiah 18:3, where it names a potter's wheel, and its exact sense is uncertain. Adam Clarke records the view that it meant a stone trough for washing the newborn. Methodius of Olympus read Pharaoh here as a type of the devil.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
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.
And he said, when ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Upon the stools - על האבנים al haobnayim. This is a difficult word, and occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible but in Jer 18:3, where we translate it the potter’s wheels. As אכי signifies a stone, the obnayim has been supposed to signify a stone trough, in which they received and washed the infant as soon as born.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Upon the stools - Literally, “two stones.” The word denotes a special seat, such as is represented on monuments of the 18th Dynasty, and is still used by Egyptian midwives.
The words behind it
16 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֗אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| בְּיַלֶּדְכֶן֙ | beyaledkhen | when assist as midwife you | H3205 → | 496 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָֽעִבְרִיּ֔וֹת | haivriyot | the Hebrew [women] | H5680 → | 34 times |
| וּרְאִיתֶ֖ן | ureiten | and you will look | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | at | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הָאָבְנָ֑יִם | haavenayim | the stones | H70 → | |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| בֵּ֥ן | ben | [is] a son | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| הוּא֙ | hu' | he | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| וַהֲמִתֶּ֣ן | vahamiten | and you will kill | H4191 → | 839 times |
| אֹת֔וֹ | ʾoto | <obj.> him | H853 → | 10935 times |
| וְאִם־ | veim- | and if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| בַּ֥ת | bat | [is] a daughter | H1323 → | 588 times |
| הִ֖יא | hi' | she | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| וָחָֽיָה׃ | vachayah | and she will live | H2421 → | 282 times |
וַיֹּ֗אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
בְּיַלֶּדְכֶן֙when assist as midwife you
beyaledkhenH3205 →496 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָֽעִבְרִיּ֔וֹתthe Hebrew [women]
haivriyotH5680 →34 times
וּרְאִיתֶ֖ןand you will look
ureitenH7200 →1300 times
עַל־at
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הָאָבְנָ֑יִםthe stones
haavenayimH70 →
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
בֵּ֥ן[is] a son
benH1121 →4930 times
הוּא֙he
hu'H1931 →1879 times
וַהֲמִתֶּ֣ןand you will kill
vahamitenH4191 →839 times
אֹת֔וֹ<obj.> him
ʾotoH853 →10935 times
וְאִם־and if
veim-H518 →1069 times
בַּ֥ת[is] a daughter
batH1323 →588 times
הִ֖יאshe
hi'H1931 →1879 times
וָחָֽיָה׃and she will live
vachayahH2421 →282 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 12:4His tail swept a third of the stars from the sky, tossing them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, ready to devour her child…
it leads to
- Daniel 8:9–12
From one of these horns a little horn emerged and grew extensively toward the south and the east and toward the Beautiful Land.
- Revelation 12:9
And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
- John 8:44
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him.…
- Daniel 8:9–12
Through
Exodus 1:22Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”
it leads to
- Acts 7:19
He exploited our people and oppressed our fathers, forcing them to abandon their infants so they would die.
- Proverbs 1:16
For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.
- Acts 7:19
Through
Matthew 21:38But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance.’
it leads to
- Luke 20:14
But when the tenants saw the son, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
- Genesis 37:18–20
Now Joseph’s brothers saw him in the distance, and before he arrived, they plotted to kill him.
- Mark 12:7–8
But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
- Luke 20:14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Methodius of Olympus, BANQUET OF THE TEN VIRGINS 4.2 and Methodius of Olympus, Banquet of the Ten Virgins 4.2.