1-5 When Jacob went to Egypt, his son Joseph was already there. So Jacob took his eleven other sons and their families. They were: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. Altogether, Jacob had seventy children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who went with him.
6 After Joseph, his brothers, and everyone else in that generation had died,
7 the people of Israel became so numerous that the whole region of Goshen was full of them.
8 Many years later a new king came to power. He did not know what Joseph had done for Egypt,
9 and he told the Egyptians:There are too many of those Israelites in our country, and they are becoming more powerful than we are.
10 If we don't outsmart them, their families will keep growing larger. And if our country goes to war, they could easily fight on the side of our enemies and escape from Egypt.