⁸ A new king, who had not known Joseph, came to power in Egypt. ⁹ He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are.^{(A) 10} Let us deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and if war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”^{(B) 11} So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor.^(C) They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities^(D) for Pharaoh. ¹² But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread so that the Egyptians came to dread^[a] the Israelites. ¹³ They worked the Israelites ruthlessly^(E)

²³ After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor, and they cried out;^(A) and their cry for help ascended to God because of the difficult labor. ²⁴ So God heard their groaning, and He remembered^(B) His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.^{(C) 25} God saw the Israelites, and He took notice.^(D)

²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus,^[a](A) because He will save His people from their sins.”^(B)

²² Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

which is translated “God is with us.”^(C)

²⁴ When Joseph got up from sleeping, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her^{(D) 25} but did not know her intimately until she gave birth to a son.^[c] And he named Him Jesus.^(E)