Exodus 1:15

The king of Egypt said ¹  to the Hebrew midwives, ²  one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ³ 

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,

Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other was named Puah;

Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah:

The king of Egypt had a talk with the two Hebrew midwives; one was named Shiphrah and the other Puah.

And the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew women who gave help at the time of childbirth (the name of the one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah),

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,

Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah;

The king of Egypt said ¹  to the Hebrew midwives, ²  one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ³ 

¹ tn Heb “and the king of Egypt said.”

² sn The word for “midwife” is simply the Piel participle of the verb יָלַד (yalad, “to give birth”). So these were women who assisted in the childbirth process. It seems probable that given the number of the Israelites in the passage, these two women could not have been the only Hebrew midwives, but they may have been over the midwives (Rashi). Moreover, the LXX and Vulgate do not take “Hebrew” as an adjective, but as a genitive after the construct, yielding “midwives of/over the Hebrews.” This leaves open the possibility that these women were not Hebrews. This would solve the question of how the king ever expected Hebrew midwives to kill Hebrew children. And yet, the two women have Hebrew names.

³ tn Heb “who the name of the first [was] Shiphrah, and the name of the second [was] Puah.”