The king … called the midwives simply means that “the king sent for the midwives” (Good News Translation). In some languages this will be rendered as “had people go and bring the midwives to him.” The king’s question is asking only one thing, not two. The this in Why have you done this refers to what follows, namely, “Why have you … let the male children live?” The Hebrew style suggests the king’s feeling of desperation. If this is not otherwise clear, the question may be made into two questions as Good News Translation does: “Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the boys live?” Or the second clause may be introduced with a participle: “Why have you acted thus, allowing the boys to live?” (New American Bible). However, in certain languages a way to show this desperation is to combine the two clauses and say, for example, “Why have you let the male children live like this?” where the words “like this” are equivalent to Why have you done this …? In some languages the question “Why have you let the male children live” may give the impression that they killed the female children. In such a case one may use the model “Why have you not killed the male children?”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .