Bible Strands
Exodus 1:11
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Egyptians, reacting to Pharaoh's fear of Israelite demographic growth, appoint administrators to subjugate the Hebrews through coerced labor. This action follows the granting of Goshen territory and precedes Moses's direct observation of the bondage.
The words — The phrase שָׂרֵי מִסִּים (sa.Rei mi.Sim) literally renders "overseers of slave gangs," designating the officials tasked with subjugation. The verb וַ/יָּשִׂ֤ימוּ (va/i.ya.Si.mu) records the deliberate appointment of these men to enforce the policy, while וַ/יִּ֜בֶן (va/i.Yi.ven) notes the subsequent construction of Pithom and Rameses as store cities.
The thread — The imposed bondage fulfills the pattern warned in Genesis 15:13 regarding descendants living as strangers in a foreign land. This systemic oppression later draws Moses into his calling as he witnesses the Hebrews' hard labor in Exodus 2:11.
Why it lands — The text records how state-sponsored coercion produces infrastructure that serves the oppressor's administration rather than the subjugated population. It requires the reader to recognize that institutionalized labor is a calculated political response to demographic anxiety, not a sign of divine withdrawal.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
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 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.
- Deuteronomy 26:6 But the Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us, putting us to hard labor.
- Psalms 81:6 “I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.
- Exodus 6:6 Therefore 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.
- Numbers 20:15 how our fathers went down to Egypt, where we lived many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers,
- 1 Kings 9:19 as 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.
- 2 Chronicles 8:4 He built Tadmor in the wilderness, in addition to all the store cities that he had built in Hamath.