Israel grew in number. This was in fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abraham. It also caused the Egyptians great concern that there would be more Israelites than Egyptians because they would be unable to defend themselves against such a large number of people. Pharaoh also tried to kill all of the male babies so they would not become soldiers who fought against him. (See: [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/fulfill]] and [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/covenant]])
It is obvious that some time has passed since the beginning of the famine which brought the Israelites into Egypt. Yahweh appears to be punishing the Hebrews for not returning back to the Promised Land instead choosing to stay in Egypt. No return attempt is recorded to have been made. (See: [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/promisedland]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-explicit]])
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