So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labour. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.
Exodus 5:4 - Christian Standard Bible Anglicised The king of Egypt said to them, ‘Moses and Aaron, why are you causing the people to neglect their work? Get to your labour! ’ Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 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. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition The king of Egypt said to Moses and Aaron, Why do you take the people from their jobs? Get to your burdens! American Standard Version (1901) And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, loose the people from their works? get you unto your burdens. Common English Bible The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you making the people slack off from their work? Do the hard work yourselves!” Catholic Public Domain Version The king of Egypt said to them: "Why do you, Moses and Aaron, distract the people from their works? Go back to your burdens." Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version The king of Egypt said to them: Why do you, Moses and Aaron, draw off the people from their works? Get you gone to your burdens. |
So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labour. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.
Years later, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their forced labour. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his people.
Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.
The officials then said to the king, ‘This man ought to die, because he is weakening the morale of the warriors who remain in this city and of all the people by speaking to them in this way. This man is not pursuing the welfare of this people, but their harm.’
Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, ‘Amos has conspired against you right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words,
They began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man misleading our nation, opposing payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.’
For we have found this man to be a plague, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the Roman world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.