¹⁰ Come, we must deal shrewdly^(A) with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”^(B)

¹¹ So they put slave masters^(C) over them to oppress them with forced labor,^(D) and they built Pithom and Rameses^(E) as store cities^(F) for Pharaoh. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites