1^*The sons of Jacob who went to Egypt with him, each with his family, were ²^*Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, ³^*Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, ⁴^*Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. ⁵The total number of these people directly descended from Jacob was 70.^a His son Joseph was already in Egypt. ⁶In the course of time Joseph, his brothers, and all the rest of that generation died, ⁷^*but their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and became so numerous and strong that Egypt was filled with them.

⁸^*Then, a new king, who knew nothing about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. ⁹He said to his people, “These Israelites are so numerous and strong that they are a threat to us. ¹⁰^*In case of war they might join our enemies in order to fight against us, and might escape from^b the country. We must find some way to keep them from becoming even more numerous.” ¹¹So the Egyptians put slave-drivers over them to crush their spirits with hard labour. The Israelites built the cities of Pithom and Rameses to serve as supply centres for the king. ¹²But the more the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites, the more they increased in number and the further they spread through the land. The Egyptians came to fear the Israelites ^13–14and made their lives miserable by forcing them into cruel slavery. They made them work on their building projects and in their fields, and they had no mercy on them.

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Footnotes

aOne ancient translation 75 (see Acts 7:14).
bescape from; or take control of.

Cross references

*1.1–4: Gn 46:8–7
*1.1–4: Gn 46:8–7
*1.1–4: Gn 46:8–7
*1.1–4: Gn 46:8–7
*1.7: Ac 7:17
*1.8: Ac 7:18
*1.10: Ac 7:19