1. When Jacob, also called Israel, went to Egypt, he took his sons. And each son took his own family with him. These are the names of the sons of Israel:
2. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,
3. Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin,
4. Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
5. There was a total of 70 people who were descendants of Jacob. Jacob’s son Joseph was already in Egypt.
6. By some time later, Joseph and his brothers had died, along with all the people who had lived at that same time.
7. But the people of Israel had many children, and their number grew greatly. They became very strong, and the country of Egypt was filled with them.
8. Then a new king began to rule Egypt. He did not know who Joseph was.
9. This king said to his people, “Look! The people of Israel are too many! And they are too strong for us to handle!
10. We must make plans against them. If we don’t, the number of their people will grow even more. Then if there is a war, they might join our enemies. Then they could fight us and escape from the country!”
11. So the Egyptians made life hard for the people of Israel. They put slave masters over the Israelites. The slave masters forced the Israelites to build the cities Pithom and Rameses for the king. These cities were supply centers in which the Egyptians stored things.