Exodus 1:8-14

English Standard Version

Pharaoh Oppresses Israel

⁸ Now there arose a new king over Egypt, ^(A)who did not know Joseph. ⁹ And he said to his people, “Behold, ^(B)the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. ^10 (C)Come, ^(D)let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” ¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them ^(E)to afflict them with heavy ^(F)burdens. They built for Pharaoh ^(G)store cities, Pithom and ^(H)Raamses. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. ¹³ So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel ^(I)work as slaves ¹⁴ and ^(J)made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.