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And a new (A)king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. (B)And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are [a]more and mightier than we. 10 Come, let us (C)deal wisely with them, lest they multiply and it be [b]in the event of war, that they also join themselves to those who hate us and fight against us and (D)go up from the land.” 11 So they appointed (E)taskmasters over them to afflict them with [c](F)hard labors. And they built for Pharaoh (G)storage cities, Pithom and (H)Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, (I)the more they multiplied and the more they [d]spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel. 13 So the Egyptians brutally compelled the sons of Israel (J)to slave labor; 14 and they made (K)their lives bitter with [e]hard slave labor in mortar and bricks and in all kinds of slave labor in the field, all their slave labor which they brutally [f]compelled them to do.

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 1:9 Or too many and too mighty for us
  2. Exodus 1:10 Lit when war befalls that
  3. Exodus 1:11 Lit their burdens
  4. Exodus 1:12 Lit broke forth
  5. Exodus 1:14 Lit stiff
  6. Exodus 1:14 Lit worked through them

Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. 10 We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country.[a]

11 So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king. 12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became. 13 So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy. 14 They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all their demands.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:10 Or will take the country.