And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
And they made their lives miserable with harsh slavery, forcing them to work with mortar and bricks, and with all kinds of hard labor in the fields. All the work they forced them to do was brutal and without mercy.
This verse describes how the Egyptians made the Israelites' lives unbearably hard through cruel and exhausting slave labor.
📚 Historical Context
This verse describes the oppression of the Israelites in Egypt, likely during the 13th century BC under Pharaoh Rameses II. The Israelites had grown from a small family of 70 people into a large population that the Egyptians feared might revolt or join their enemies. The Egyptians used forced labor to build their cities and monuments, including store cities like Pithom and Rameses.
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