Exodus 1:16 BSB — MannaFest

Exodus 1:16

“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

Parallel translations (2) ▾

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.

⋯

Commentary

3 voices

Methodius of Olympus

BANQUET OF THE TEN VIRGINS 4.2 (311)

Thus 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.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

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.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

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.

Voices on this verse

loading…

Original language & word study

16 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וַיֹּ֗אמֶר	vai.Yo.mer	and he said	H559 →
בְּיַלֶּדְכֶן֙	be.ya.led.Khen	when assist as midwife you	H3205 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
הָֽעִבְרִיּ֔וֹת	ha.'iv.ri.Yot	the Hebrew [women]	H5680 →
וּרְאִיתֶ֖ן	u.re.'i.Ten	and you will look	H7200 →
עַל־	'al-	at	H5921 →
הָאָבְנָ֑יִם	ha.'a.ve.Na.yim	the stones	H70 →
אִם־	'im-	if	H518 →
בֵּ֥ן	ben	[is] a son	H1121 →
הוּא֙	hu'	he	H1931 →
וַהֲמִתֶּ֣ן	va.ha.mi.Ten	and you will kill	H4191 →
אֹת֔וֹ	'o.To	<obj.> him	H853 →
וְאִם־	ve.'im-	and if	H518 →
בַּ֥ת	bat	[is] a daughter	H1323 →
הִ֖יא	hi'	she	H1931 →
וָחָֽיָה׃	va.Cha.yah	and she will live	H2421 →

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

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Revelation 12:4
His 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…
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.…
Through
Exodus 1:22
Then 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.”
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.
Through
Matthew 21:38
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance.’
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.’

Featured studies on this passage

On Exodus 1:16

Exodus: the Study Guide

Open the study →

Walks through Exodus 1

Moses in the Bulrushes — Exodus 2

Open the study →

About Exodus

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

Exodus: the study guide →Read chapter 1 →The featured study →

Continue: Exodus 1 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Exodus

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Exodus