¹³ and ·demanded even more of them [^Lthe Egyptians ruthlessly forced the sons/^Tchildren of Israel to labor]. ¹⁴ They made their lives ·bitter [miserable]. They forced the Israelites to work hard to make bricks and mortar and to do all kinds of work in the fields. ·The Egyptians were not merciful to them in all their painful work [^LThey ruthlessly forced them to work].

¹⁵ Two Hebrew ·nurses [midwives] named Shiphrah and Puah were told by the king [^Cnot the Pharaoh of 1:8; perhaps fifteenth or thirteenth century bc—if the latter, probably Rameses],