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Exodus 1:8-11
New Catholic Bible
Exodus 1:8-11
New Catholic Bible
Harsh Condition of the Children of Israel.[a] 8 Then a new king arose in Egypt who had not known Joseph. 9 He said to his people, “Behold, the children of Israel are very numerous and more powerful than we are. 10 Let us deal wisely with them lest they continue to multiply. Otherwise, if there were a war, they would join our enemies and battle against us and then escape from the land.”
11 So taskmasters were set over the children of Israel to wear them down with forced labor. They built the supply cities[b] of Pithom and Raameses for Pharaoh.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Exodus 1:8 The Pharaoh, probably Rameses II (1298–1232 B.C.), becomes worried when he sees the proliferation of the Hebrews and takes various measures to exterminate this race and doubtless other Asiatic populations. The children of Israel who left Egypt are said to number 600,000, “not including children” (Ex 12:37). Works of the kind that the Hebrews are compelled to do are illustrated in Egyptian paintings of that period, even if these do not picture actual groups of the Patriarchs’ descendants.
- Exodus 1:11 Supply cities is a military term (see 1 Ki 9:19). Pithom and Rameses are in the eastern part of the Nile Delta; Rameses is identified with either Tanis or El Qantara. Pharaoh: a royal title rather than a personal name.
