Exodus · 22 verses
Exodus 1
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
The harder Egypt makes life for Israel, the more Israel flourishes—an awkward result for a king who has chosen oppression as his arithmetic.
A family becomes a multitudevv. 1–7
The sons of Israel go down to Egypt with Jacob, seventy descendants in all, Joseph already there. Then Joseph, his brothers, and that whole generation die; the family does not diminish but becomes so numerous that the land is filled with them. The chapter gives the multiplication a brisk little flourish:
Oppression produces the oppositevv. 8–14
A new king rises in Egypt who did not know Joseph. The text does not say what has happened to Joseph’s memory; it simply lets the king proceed from ignorance to alarm, and from alarm to forced labour. The Israelites build Pithom and Raamses as store cities for Pharaoh, but the harder the work becomes, the more the Israelites multiply. The policy is therefore a splendid failure in its own chosen terms: oppression makes the feared multitude larger, and fear makes the oppression harsher.
The midwives and the rivervv. 15–22
Pharaoh next gives the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, a dreadful instruction: boys are to die and daughters may live. Shiphrah and Puah do not obey. When summoned to explain themselves, they offer Pharaoh a sharply practical account of events: Hebrew women give birth before a midwife arrives. The chapter does not record Pharaoh’s reply, but it does record that the people multiply still further, and that Pharaoh ends by commanding all his people to throw every Hebrew son into the Nile. A private order has become public policy, with a river recruited into the business.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Exod 1:1These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:
Exod 1:5The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt.
Exod 1:6Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,
Exod 1:7but the Israelites were fruitful and increased rapidly; they multiplied and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.
Exod 1:8Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt.
Exod 1:9“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become too numerous and too powerful for us.
Exod 1:10Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase even more; and if a war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”
Exod 1:11So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
Exod 1:12But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.
Exod 1:13They worked the Israelites ruthlessly
Exod 1:14and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. Every service they imposed was harsh.
Exod 1:15Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,
Exod 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.”
Exod 1:17The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live.
Exod 1:18So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
Exod 1:19The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before a midwife arrives.”
Exod 1:20So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous.
Exod 1:21And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.
Exod 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.”
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 174 passages were voted onto 20 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 17Acts 5:29But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.
- 12Psalms 105:24And the LORD made His people very fruitful, more numerous than their foes,
- 11Genesis 15:13Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
- 17Exodus 1:21And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.
- 211 Kings 11:38If you listen to all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight in order to keep My statutes and commandments as My servant David did, then I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.
- 17Luke 12:5But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear the One who, after you have been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!
- 17Ecclesiastes 12:13When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.
- 17Matthew 10:28Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
- 7Genesis 46:3“I am God,” He said, “the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.
- 8Acts 7:18Then another king, who knew nothing of Joseph, arose over Egypt.
- 211 Samuel 2:35Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest. He will do whatever is in My heart and mind. And I will build for him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed one for all time.
- 20Ecclesiastes 8:12Although 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.
- 20Isaiah 3:10Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
- 21Psalms 37:3Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
- 5Deuteronomy 10:22Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
- 7Deuteronomy 26:5and you are to declare before the LORD your God, “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt few in number and lived there and became a great nation, mighty and numerous.
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