Exodus 1:1-14

1Here are the names of the Israelites who went to Egypt with Jacob. Each one went there with his family.

2Jacob's sons were Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah,

3Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin,

4Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

5Jacob himself had 70 descendants. His other son, Joseph, was already in Egypt.

6After some time, Joseph died. Joseph's brothers and all his generation also died.

7But the Israelites had many children, so they grew into a very large family. They became very powerful. They were everywhere in the whole country.

8Later, a new king began to rule in Egypt. He did not know anything about Joseph.

9He said to his people, ‘Look! The Israelites have become too many for us. They are more powerful than we are.

10We must find a clever way to stop them. If we do nothing, their families will become even bigger. Then, if there is a war, they will join our enemies and they will fight against us. That will give the Israelites a chance to leave our country.’

11So the Egyptians made the Israelites work as their slaves. The Egyptian masters made the Israelites do very hard work. They had to build cities for the king, Pharaoh, where he could store food for his people. The names of the cities were Pithom and Rameses.

12The Egyptians made the Israelites work more and more. But the Israelites still became more in number. They had many children and they lived in every part of the country. Because of this, the Egyptians began to be afraid of them.

13So the Egyptians made the Israelites work without any rest.

14The Israelites became very upset because of all the difficult work. They had to build houses with bricks and mortar. They also did many different kinds of work in the fields. The Egyptians made the Israelites do all this difficult work.