Exodus 1:16 records a royal command from the king of Egypt that Hebrew midwives kill newborn boys while allowing baby girls to live. The verse shows the cruelty of a ruler determined to crush a growing people, and it sets up the story of how God protects Israel through people who refuse to obey an evil order. The speaker is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he addresses the two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, who attend Hebrew women in childbirth.
And he said, “When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool; if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
Exodus 1:16 (WEB)
What Exodus 1:16 Means
Pharaoh gives an instruction that depends on what the midwives will see on the birth stool. If the child is a boy, they are ordered to kill him. If it is a girl, she is to be spared. The command is blunt because the king has decided that the Hebrew population, which has grown large in Egypt, must be reduced before it becomes a threat. He is using the midwives as instruments of a state policy of infanticide.
The verse describes a command, not a promise. It tells us what a human ruler wanted done and reveals the fear and hostility behind that demand. It does not tell us that God approved of the plan or that the killing was right. What the verse makes clear is that Pharaoh’s power was being turned against the most vulnerable members of a people, and that the order was aimed at stopping the next generation of Israel before it could be born into a future.
The Context of Exodus 1:16
Exodus is the second book of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, traditionally attributed to Moses. It tells how the descendants of Jacob, who had come to Egypt during a famine, were enslaved and later delivered by God. The book was written for the Israelite community, who remembered the bondage and needed to understand why God acted as he did. Chapter 1 sets the stage by describing how the Egyptians made their lives bitter with hard labor (verses 13-14).
Just before verse 16, the text says the Hebrews kept multiplying despite the oppression, which is why Pharaoh grew alarmed. Right after it, verse 17 tells us the midwives feared God more than the king and let the boys live. That detail changes how the verse reads. Pharaoh’s command is the dark turn in the story, but it is followed at once by the courage of two women who quietly refused to carry it out.
Key Phrases in Exodus 1:16
Exodus 1:17
But the midwives feared God, and didn’t do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive.
(WEB)
Verse 17 completes the scene by showing the midwives’ decision. Read alongside Pharaoh’s command, it reveals that fear of God, not fear of the king, shaped their choice to save the baby boys.
Acts 5:29
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
(WEB)
In this New Testament passage, the apostles answer the authorities with the same principle the midwives lived out. It shows that obeying God can mean refusing human commands that contradict his will.
A Short Prayer From Exodus 1:16
Lord, you see the cruelty that people sometimes bring against the vulnerable, and you do not look away from it. Give me the courage of the midwives when I am pressed to do what I know is wrong. Let my fear of you be stronger than my fear of those who hold power over me. Protect the children and the weak in our world, and make me willing to speak and act on their behalf. Keep me faithful in small choices, trusting that you are at work even when the path is hard. Amen.
