Exodus 1:12-14

1:12 But the more the Egyptians ¹  oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread. ²  As a result the Egyptians loathed ³  the Israelites, 1:13 and they ⁴  made the Israelites serve rigorously. ⁵  1:14 They made their lives bitter ⁶  by ⁷  hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service ⁸  in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous. ⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn The imperfect tenses in this verse are customary uses, expressing continual action in past time (see GKC 315 §107.e). For other examples of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher) with כֵּן (ken) expressing a comparison (“just as…so”) see Gen 41:13; Judg 1:7; Isa 31:4.

³ tn Heb “they felt a loathing before/because of”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “the Egyptians.” For stylistic reasons this has been replaced by the pronoun “they” in the translation.

⁵ tn Heb “with rigor, oppression.”

⁷ sn The verb מָרַר (marar) anticipates the introduction of the theme of bitterness in the instructions for the Passover.

⁸ tn The preposition bet (ב) in this verse has the instrumental use: “by means of” (see GKC 380 §119.o).

⁹ tn Heb “and in all service.”

¹⁰ tn The line could be more literally translated, “All their service in which they served them [was] with rigor.” This takes the referent of בָּהֶם (bahem) to be the Egyptians. The pronoun may also resume the reference to the kinds of service and so not be needed in English: “All their service in which they served [was] with rigor.”