1These are the names of the sons of Israel^a who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: ²Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; ³Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; ⁴Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.^b ⁵The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy^a in all;^c Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,^d ⁷but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers^e and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

⁸Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.^f ⁹“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous^g for us.^h ¹⁰Come, we must deal shrewdlyⁱ with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”^j

¹¹So they put slave masters^k over them to oppress them with forced labor,^l and they built Pithom and Rameses^m as store citiesⁿ for Pharaoh. ¹²But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³and worked them ruthlessly.^o ¹⁴They made their lives bitter with harsh labor^p in brick^q and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.^r

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Footnotes

aMasoretic Text (see also Gen. 46:27); Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint (see also Acts 7:14 and note at Gen. 46:27) seventy-five

Cross references

aSee Ge 46:8
b Ge 35:22–26; Nu 1:20–43
cSee Ge 46:26
d Ge 50:26; Ac 7:15
ever 9; See Ge 12:2; Dt 7:13; Eze 16:7
f Jer 43:11; 46:2
gSee ver 7
hSee Ge 26:16
i Ge 15:13; Ex 3:7; 18:11; Ps 64:2; 71:10; 83:3; Isa 53:3
j Ps 105:24–25; Ac 7:17–19
k Ex 3:7; 5:10, 13, 14
lSee Ge 15:13; Ex 2:11; 5:4; 6:6–7; Jos 9:27; 1 Ki 9:21; 1 Ch 22:2; Isa 60:10
mSee Ge 47:11
n 1 Ki 9:19; 2 Ch 8:4
over 14; Ge 15:13–14; Ex 5:21; 16:3; Lev 25:43, 46, 53; Dt 4:20; 26:6; 1 Ki 8:51; Ps 129:1; Isa 30:6; 48:10; Jer 11:4
p Dt 26:6; Ezr 9:9; Isa 14:3
qSee Ge 11:3
r Ex 2:23; 3:9; Nu 20:15; 1 Sa 10:18; 2 Ki 13:4; Ps 66:11; 81:6; Ac 7:19