Exodus 1:1-14

1These are the names of the sons of Israel (that is, Jacob) who came with him to Egypt with their families:

2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;

3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;

4Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.

5Joseph was already in Egypt. The total number of Jacob’s descendants was 70.

6Eventually, Joseph, all his brothers, and that entire generation died.

7But the descendants of Israel had many children. They became so numerous and strong that the land was filled with them.

8Then a new king, who knew nothing about Joseph, began to rule in Egypt.

9He said to his people, “There are too many Israelites, and they are stronger than we are.

10We have to outsmart them, or they’ll increase in number. Then, if war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”

11So the Egyptians put slave drivers in charge of them in order to oppress them through forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.

12But the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they increased in number and spread out. The Egyptians couldn’t stand them ⌞any longer⌟.

13So they forced the Israelites to work hard as slaves.

14They made their lives bitter with back-breaking work in mortar and bricks and every kind of work in the fields. All the jobs the Egyptians gave them were brutally hard.