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Exodus 1

Jacob's descendants multiply in Egypt. A new Pharaoh who did not know Joseph enslaves them to build the store cities Pithom and Rameses and orders the midwives to kill every Hebrew boy, but the midwives fear God and let them live.

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Rameses

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Slavery in Egypt

How sure can we be?

  • Plausible

    The house is built of sun-dried mud brick with a flat roof of beams, reeds and plaster.

    Mud brick was the building material of the Nile delta (Exodus 1:14; 5:7), and excavations at Tell el-Dab'a (Avaris) found houses of Asiatic settlers built that way. The layout, furniture and street here are artistic.

  • Plausible

    The name Rameses fits the time of Ramesses II, but it may also be a later name for an older place.

    Genesis 47:11 already speaks of 'the land of Rameses' in Joseph's day, which suggests the name can be used for a region by a later writer. The name matters for dating the exodus: see the date note.

  • Plausible

    Late date, about 1270–1250 BC, under Ramesses II.

    From the city name Rameses (Exodus 1:11) and the building of Pi-Ramesse in the 13th century BC; many archaeologists favour it (for example Kitchen and Hoffmeier).

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King James Version (KJV) Chinese Union Version, 1919 (Wikisource)