So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.
- KJV Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
- NKJV Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses.
- NASB So they appointed taskmasters over them to oppress them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.
- NLT So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Egypt sets taskmasters over Israel and forces them to build store cities. The covenant people are reduced to state slaves.
Overview
Pithom and Rameses were real Egyptian supply centers, anchoring the account in history. The oppression is meant to break Israel's spirit and curb their growth. Yet this affliction fulfills God's earlier word to Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved before deliverance (Genesis 15:13), so even the bondage unfolds within God's announced plan.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Gen 15:13Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
- Exod 3:7The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.
- Gen 47:11So Joseph settled his father and brothers in the land of Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.
- Exod 2:11One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.
- Ps 81:6“I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.
- Deut 26:6But the Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us, putting us to hard labor.
- 2 Chr 8:4He built Tadmor in the wilderness, in addition to all the store cities that he had built in Hamath.
- Num 20:15how our fathers went down to Egypt, where we lived many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers,
- 1 Kgs 9:19as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.
- Exod 6:6–7Therefore tell the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
- Ps 68:13Though you lie down among the sheepfolds, the wings of the dove are covered with silver, and her feathers with shimmering gold.”
- Exod 5:15So the Israelite foremen went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way?
- Exod 5:4–6But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labor!”
- Ps 105:13they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another.
- Prov 27:4Wrath is cruel and anger is like a flood, but who can withstand jealousy?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 1:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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