Exodus 1:11

Summary

The verse states that unnamed subjects ("they") appointed sarei missim ("overseers of slave gangs", H8269/H4522) over the Israelite population "to afflict" them through forced labor, and that as a result store-cities were built for Pharaoh, named Pithom and Rameses.

Key words

• yasimu ("they appointed", H7760L) — qal narrative verb, 3rd person plural; the subject is left grammatically implicit (no named noun precedes it in this clause).
• sarei missim ("overseers of slave gangs", H8269 construct + H4522) — a construct chain: "chiefs of" + "forced-labor units", designating a supervisory office over labor gangs.
• le-ma'an annoto ("so as to afflict him/it", H4616 + H6031B) — a purpose particle governing a piel infinitive; the piel stem intensifies the action ("to oppress/afflict"), and the suffix -o ("him/it") refers back to the people collectively.
• be-sivlotam ("with their forced labor", H5450 construct + H9028 suffix "their") — feminine plural construct noun with pronominal suffix, denoting the burdens/loads imposed.
• arei miskenot ("cities of storage", H5892B construct + H4543) — construct chain meaning cities built for storage function, modifying what was built "for Pharaoh" (le-Far'oh, H6547I).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with a narrative va- prefixed verb (va-yasimu, "and they appointed"), continuing the chain of action from the preceding verses without stating who "they" are — the plural subject must be inferred from context outside this verse's own wording. The object of appointment is sarei missim, a construct phrase placing supervisors over "slave gangs" or forced-labor units. The purpose clause le-ma'an annoto be-sivlotam uses an infinitive construct in the piel stem, marking intensified or repeated affliction, tied grammatically to the group via suffixes ("him/it... their burdens").

The second half of the verse shifts to a new narrative verb, va-yiven ("and he/it built"), also with an unspecified subject, describing construction of arei miskenot ("storage cities") le-Far'oh ("for Pharaoh", H6547I). Two place names follow, each marked by the untranslatable object marker 'et (H0853): Pitom (H6619) and Ra'amses (H7486H), joined by the conjunction ve- ("and").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the opening verb as singular (ἐπέστησεν, "he set over"), where the Hebrew yasimu is plural ("they appointed"). The LXX also translates arei miskenot as πόλεις ὀχυρὰς ("fortified cities") rather than "storage cities," and adds a third place name, Ὤν ("On," identified as Heliopolis), absent from the Hebrew and from the Vulgate. The Vulgate renders the same phrase as urbes tabernaculorum ("cities of tents/tabernacles"), differing from both the Hebrew sense of storage and the LXX's "fortified."