He said to his people, “Look, the people of Bnei-Yisrael are too numerous and too powerful for us.
Then I saw that all toil and all skill that is done come from man’s envy of his neighbor; this too is fleeting and striving after the wind.
For we also once were foolish, disobedient, deluded, enslaved to various desires and pleasures, spending our lives in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
Wrath is cruel and anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?
A large population is a king’s glory, but lack of subjects is a prince’s ruin.
Or do you think that in vain the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit which He made to dwell in us”?
For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
So Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much more powerful than us.”
“I am God, the God of your father,” He said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will turn you into a great nation there.
Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now so numerous, yet you would have them rest from their labors?”