Pithom and Rameses

Pithom and Raamses were the treasure cities that the Israelites were forced to build for Pharaoh under taskmasters who afflicted them with their burdens. Their names stand at the start of Exodus as the first concrete sign of Israel's bondage, and yet 'the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.' Rameses, called 'the land of Rameses' in Joseph's day, was where Jacob's family had first been given a possession in the best of the land, and it was from Rameses that the children of Israel set out on the morrow after the Passover, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. The place of their hardest labor became the starting line of their freedom.

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Details

Region: Egypt
Modern Location: Eastern Nile Delta, Egypt. Rameses is widely identified with Pi-Ramesses at Qantir; Pithom with Tell el-Maskhuta or Tell er-Retabeh in the Wadi Tumilat.

Strongest connections in Scripture

Exodus 1 Genesis 47 Exodus 12 Numbers 33

Key Passages

Treasure Cities for Pharaoh

Exodus 1:11-14

Israel's forced labor builds Pithom and Raamses, yet God keeps multiplying His people.

T¹¹herefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

¹² But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. ¹³ And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: ¹⁴ And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

The Land of Rameses

Genesis 47:11

Joseph settles his father and brothers in the best of Egypt's land.

A¹¹nd Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

From Rameses to Succoth

Exodus 12:37

The Exodus begins as a vast company marches out of Rameses.

A³⁷nd the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.

Departing with an High Hand

Numbers 33:3-5

Israel leaves Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, in the sight of all the Egyptians.

A³nd they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.

⁴ For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments. ⁵ And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth.