Exodus 1:11
New International Version
So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

New Living Translation
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.

English Standard Version
Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.

Berean Standard Bible
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.

King James Bible
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

New King James Version
Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses.

New American Standard Bible
So they appointed taskmasters over them to oppress them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.

NASB 1995
So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.

NASB 1977
So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.

Legacy Standard Bible
So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labors. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.

Amplified Bible
So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with hard labor. And the sons of Israel built Pithom and Raamses as storage cities for Pharaoh.

Christian Standard Bible
So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.

American Standard Version
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Raamses.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they placed evil Rulers over them that would oppress them in their oppression and they were building cities, places of storage for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamsis.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And he set over them task-masters, who should afflict them in their works; and they built strong cities for Pharao, both Pitho, and Ramesses, and On, which is Heliopolis.

Contemporary English Version
The Egyptians put slave bosses in charge of the people of Israel and tried to wear them down with hard work. Those bosses forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses, where the king could store his supplies.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Therefore he set over them masters of the works, to afflict them with burdens, and they built for Pharao cities of tabernacles, Phithom and Ramesses.

English Revised Version
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
So the Egyptians put slave drivers in charge of them in order to oppress them through forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.

Good News Translation
So the Egyptians put slave drivers over them to crush their spirits with hard labor. The Israelites built the cities of Pithom and Rameses to serve as supply centers for the king.

International Standard Version
So the Egyptians placed supervisors over them, oppressing them with heavy burdens. The Israelis built the supply cities of Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Raamses.

Literal Standard Version
And they set princes of tribute over it, so as to afflict it with their burdens, and it builds the store-cities of Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh;

Majority Standard Bible
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.

New American Bible
Accordingly, they set supervisors over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. Thus they had to build for Pharaoh the garrison cities of Pithom and Raamses.

NET Bible
So they put foremen over the Israelites to oppress them with hard labor. As a result they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

New Revised Standard Version
Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh.

New Heart English Bible
Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.

Webster's Bible Translation
Therefore they set over them task-masters, to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom, and Raamses.

World English Bible
Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.

Young's Literal Translation
And they set over it princes of tribute, so as to afflict it with their burdens, and it buildeth store-cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Oppression by a New King
10Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase even more; and if a war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.” 11So 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. 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.…

Cross References
Genesis 15:13
Then 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.

Genesis 47:11
So 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.

Exodus 1:14
and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. Every service they imposed was harsh.

Exodus 2:11
One 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.

Exodus 3:7
The 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.

Exodus 5:4
But 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!"

Exodus 5:6
That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen:


Treasury of Scripture

Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

to afflict.

Exodus 3:7
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

Exodus 5:15
Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?

Genesis 15:13
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

burdens.

Exodus 2:11
And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

Exodus 5:4,5
And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens…

Psalm 68:13
Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.

Raamses.

Genesis 47:11
And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

Proverbs 27:4
Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?

Jump to Previous
Afflict Appointed Built Burdens Cities Forced Hard Heavy Labor Masters Oppress Order Overseers Pharaoh Princes Rameses Slave Storage Store-Cities Store-Towns Strength Taskmasters Task-Masters Treasure Tribute Weight Work
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Afflict Appointed Built Burdens Cities Forced Hard Heavy Labor Masters Oppress Order Overseers Pharaoh Princes Rameses Slave Storage Store-Cities Store-Towns Strength Taskmasters Task-Masters Treasure Tribute Weight Work
Exodus 1
1. The children of Israel, after Joseph's death, increase.
8. The more they are oppressed by a new king, the more they multiply.
15. The godliness of the midwives in saving the male children alive.
22. Pharaoh commands the male children to be cast into the river














(11) Task-masters.--Heb., chiefs of tributes. The Egyptian system of forced labour, which it was now resolved to extend to the Israelites, involved the appointment of two sets of officers--a lower class, who personally overlooked the labourers, and forced them to perform their tasks, and a higher class of superintendents, who directed the distribution of the labour, and assigned to all the tasks which they were to execute. The "task-masters" of the present passage are these high officials.

To afflict them.--This was the object of the whole proceeding. It was hoped that severe labour under the lash would produce so much suffering that the number of the Israelites would be thinned, and their multiplication stopped. Humanly speaking, the scheme was a "wise" one--i.e., one likely to be successful.

They built for Pharaoh treasure-cities.--By "treasure-cities" we are to understand "magazines"--i.e., strongholds, where munitions of war could be laid up for use in case of an invasion. (In 1Kings 9:19, and 2Chronicles 8:4, the same expression is translated "cities of store.") The Pharaohs of the nineteenth dynasty gave great attention to the guarding of the north-eastern frontier in this way.

Pithom.--This city is reasonably identified with the "Patumus" of Herodotus (ii. 158), which was in Lower Egypt, not far from Bubastis (Tel Basta). It is mentioned in the inscriptions of the nineteenth dynasty under the name of Pi-Tum (Brugsch, History of Egypt, vol. ii. p. 128). It was, as the name implies, a city of the sun-god, and was probably not very far from Heliopolis, the main seat of the sun-god's worship.

Raamses.--Pi-Ramesu, the city of Rameses, was the ordinary seat of the Court during the earlier part of the nineteenth dynasty. It appears to have been a new name for Tanis, or for a suburb of Tanis, which overshadowed the old city. Rameses II. claims to have built the greater part of it; but it was probably commenced by his father, Seti, who made the defence of the north-eastern frontier one of his main cares. The name must be considered as a mere variant rendering of the Egyptian Ramessu or Ramesu. The site is marked by the mounds at San.

Verse 11. - They did set over them taskmasters. Literally, "lords of tribute," or "lords of service." The term used, sarey massim, is the Egyptian official title for over-lookers of forced labour. It occurs in this sense on the monument representing brick-making, which has been supposed by some to be a picture of the Hebrews at work. (See Cook, in the 'Speaker's Commentary,' vol. 1. pt. 1. p. 253, and compare Brugsch, 'History of Egypt,' vol. 1. p. 376.) To afflict them with their burdens. Among the tasks set the labourers in the representation above alluded to are the carrying of huge lumps of clay and of water-jars on one shoulder, and also the conveyance of bricks from place to place by means of a yoke. They built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom and Raamses. By "treasure-cities" we are to understand "store-cities," or "cities of store," as the same word is translated in 1 Kings 9:19 and 2 Chronicles 8:4. Such cities contained depots of provisions and magazines of arms. They were generally to be found on all assailable frontiers in ancient as in modern times. (Compare 2 Chronicles 11:5, 12; 2 Chronicles 33:28, etc.) Of the cities here mentioned, which the Israelites are said to have "built," or helped to build, Pithom is in all probability the Patumes of Herodotus (2:158), which was not far from Bubastis, now Tel-Basta. Its exact site is uncertain, but if identical with the Thou, or Thoum, of the ' Itinerary of An-tonine,' it must have lain north of the Canal of Necho, not south, where most maps place it. The word means "abode of the sun," or rather "of the setting sun," called by the Egyptians Tam, or Atum. Names formed on the model were very common under the nineteenth dynasty, Rameses II. having built a Pa-Ra, a Pa-Ammon, and a Pa-Phthah in Nubia (Brugsch, 'History of Egypt,' vol. it. p. 90). Pa-Tum itself has not been found among the cities of this period (ib. p. 99), but appears in the records of the twentieth dynasty as a place where the Setting-Sun god had a treasury ('Records of the Past,' vol. 6. p. 54). The name Rameses is probably put for Pa-Rameses (as Thoum for Pa-Tum), a city frequently mentioned in the inscriptions of the nineteenth dynasty, and particularly favoured by Rameses II., whose city it was especially called ('Records of the Past,' vol. it. p. 77; vol. 6. p. 13), and by whom it was greatly enlarged, if not wholly built. We incline to believe that the building was commenced by Seti, who named the place, as he did his great temple, the Rameseum, after his father. The city was, according to Brugsch, a sort of suburb of Tanis ('History of Egypt,' vol. 2 p. 94). It was a magnificent place, and under Rameses II. and his son Menephthah was the ordinary residence of the court. Hence the miracles of Moses are said to have been wrought "in the field of Zoan," i.e. the country about Tanis (Psalm 78:12, 43).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
So [the Egyptians] appointed
וַיָּשִׂ֤ימוּ (way·yā·śî·mū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 7760: Put -- to put, place, set

taskmasters
שָׂרֵ֣י (śā·rê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 8269: Chieftain, chief, ruler, official, captain, prince

over
עָלָיו֙ (‘ā·lāw)
Preposition | third person masculine singular
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the Israelites to
לְמַ֥עַן (lə·ma·‘an)
Conjunction
Strong's 4616: Purpose -- intent

oppress
עַנֹּת֖וֹ (‘an·nō·ṯōw)
Verb - Piel - Infinitive construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 6031: To be bowed down or afflicted

them with forced labor.
בְּסִבְלֹתָ֑ם (bə·siḇ·lō·ṯām)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 5450: Porterage

As a result, they built
וַיִּ֜בֶן (way·yi·ḇen)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1129: To build

Pithom
פִּתֹ֖ם (pi·ṯōm)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 6619: Pithom -- a place in Egypt

and Rameses
רַעַמְסֵֽס׃ (ra·‘am·sês)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 7486: Rameses -- a city in Egypt

as store
מִסְכְּנוֹת֙ (mis·kə·nō·wṯ)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 4543: Supply, storage

cities
עָרֵ֤י (‘ā·rê)
Noun - feminine plural construct
Strong's 5892: Excitement

for Pharaoh.
לְפַרְעֹ֔ה (lə·p̄ar·‘ōh)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 6547: Pharaoh -- a title of Egypt kings


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OT Law: Exodus 1:11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them (Exo. Ex)
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