Exodus 1:20

Summary

The verse states that God acted well toward the midwives, and as a consequence the people (Israel) increased in number and grew very strong. It forms the narrative conclusion to the account of the midwives' actions in the preceding verses.

Key words

• va-yeitev ("and he did good", H3190) — hiphil (causative) narrative verb; the causative stem indicates God actively caused good to happen, not merely that things were good.
• Elohim ("God", H0430G) — masculine plural noun functioning as the grammatical subject, used here with a singular verb form as is standard for this divine name.
• la-meyalledot ("to the midwives", H3205) — piel participle, feminine plural, with prefixed preposition and article; the participle form (from the intensive piel stem) designates the women by their ongoing function ("those who deliver/assist in birth") rather than a fixed title.
• va-yirev ("and it increased", H7235A) — qal (simple) narrative verb, describing the growth of ha-am ("the people", H5971A) as a direct sequel to the preceding clause.
• va-yaatzmu ("and they became mighty", H6105A) — qal narrative verb, plural, paired with meod ("exceedingly", H3966) to intensify the description of the people's strength.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of three narrative clauses, each introduced by the va- ("and") prefix that links sequential events in Biblical Hebrew narrative: va-yeitev ("and he did good"), va-yirev ("and it increased"), and va-yaatzmu ("and they became mighty"). This chaining structure presents the three actions as a connected sequence — God's favorable action toward the midwives is narrated first, followed immediately by the growth and strengthening of the people, without an explicit causal conjunction such as "because" or "therefore" in the Hebrew itself.

The subject Elohim takes a hiphil verb, a causative stem, meaning the clause describes God as the agent producing a good outcome for the midwives, rather than describing the midwives themselves as inherently good. The object of that action, la-meyalledot, uses the piel participle form of the root H3205, portraying the midwives through their recurring function of assisting in childbirth. The final pair of verbs, va-yirev and va-yaatzmu, both qal (basic, non-intensified) stems, describe the people's increase in number and physical strength respectively, with meod ("exceedingly") intensifying the second verb only in its immediate context, though it can be read as modifying the overall description of growth.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the opening clause with eu de epoiei ("and he was doing well"), using an imperfect verb, which frames God's favorable action as ongoing or repeated, whereas the Hebrew va-yeitev is a single narrative (wayyiqtol) form presenting it as a completed sequential event. The Vulgate's Bene ergo fecit ("God therefore did well") adds the inferential connector ergo ("therefore"), making explicit a causal link between the midwives' treatment and the people's growth that is not marked by any conjunction in the Hebrew text itself.