Exodus 1:20
in Exodus 1So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
KJV
Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
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This verse in Exodus 1
Commentary
4 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
God dealt well with the midwives--This represents God as rewarding them for telling a lie. This difficulty is wholly removed by a more correct translation. To "make" or "build up a house" in Hebrew idiom, means to have a numerous progeny.
This site's exposition
God dealt well with the midwives
on Exodus 1:20-21
God dealt well with the midwives and the people multiplied again, so Pharaoh's second measure fails the way the first one failed. He made them houses is a Hebrew idiom for building a family, the same expression used of Rachel and Leah at Ruth 4:11 and of David at 2 Samuel 7:11, so women who refused to end Hebrew households were given households of their own. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the reward as attached to the fear of God the verse names, rather than to the answer they gave the king.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Wherefore God dealt well with the midwives,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty - This shows an especial providence and blessing of God; for though in all cases where females are kept to hard labor they have comparatively easy and safe travail, yet in a state of slavery the increase is generally very small, as the children die for want of proper nursing, the women, through their labor, being obliged to neglect their offspring; so that in the slave countries the stock is obliged to be recruited by foreign imports: yet in the case above it was not so; there was not one barren among their tribes, and even their women, though constantly obliged to perform their daily tasks, were neither rendered unfruitful by it, nor taken off by premature death through the violence and continuance of their labor, when even in the delicate situation mentioned above.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֵּ֥יטֶב | vaiyeitev | and he did good | H3190 → | |
| אֱלֹהִ֖ים | ʾelohim | God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| לַֽמְיַלְּדֹ֑ת | lamyaledot | to the midwives | H3205 → | 496 times |
| וַיִּ֧רֶב | vaiyirev | and it increased | H7235 → | 227 times |
| הָעָ֛ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וַיַּֽעַצְמ֖וּ | vaiyaatzmu | and they became mighty | H6105 → | |
| מְאֹֽד׃ | meod | exceedingly | H3966 → | 300 times |
וַיֵּ֥יטֶבand he did good
vaiyeitevH3190 →
אֱלֹהִ֖יםGod
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
לַֽמְיַלְּדֹ֑תto the midwives
lamyaledotH3205 →496 times
וַיִּ֧רֶבand it increased
vaiyirevH7235 →227 times
הָעָ֛םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
וַיַּֽעַצְמ֖וּand they became mighty
vaiyaatzmuH6105 →
מְאֹֽד׃exceedingly
meodH3966 →300 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
Isaiah 3:10Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
it leads to
- Psalms 128:1–2
Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in His ways!
- Hebrews 6:10
For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.
- Ecclesiastes 8:12
Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.
- Galatians 6:7–8
Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.
- Psalms 128:1–2
Through
Hebrews 6:10For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.
it leads to
- Hebrews 13:16
And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
- Matthew 10:42
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.”
- Galatians 6:10
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:3
and continually recalling before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and your enduring hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Hebrews 13:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
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About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.