9
"Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become much too numerous1 for us.210
Come, we must deal shrewdly3 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."411
So they put slave masters5 over them to oppress them with forced labor,6 and they built Pithom and Rameses7 as store cities8 for Pharaoh.
12
But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites
13
and worked them ruthlessly.914
They made their lives bitter with hard labor10 in brick11 and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly.12
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