Exodus 1:9-11

Evangelical Heritage Version

⁹ He said to his people, “Look, the Israelites are more numerous and more powerful than we are. ¹⁰ Let’s come up with a wise plan to prevent them from increasing in number. Otherwise, if war breaks out, they would join with our enemies and fight against us. Then they would leave the land.” ¹¹ So the Egyptians placed taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. The Israelites built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.