But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

But the more they oppressed them, the more they were multiplied, and increased:

But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and spread; and they were distressed because of the children of Israel.

and as they afflict it, so it multiplieth, and so it breaketh forth, and they are vexed because of the sons of Israel;

But the more cruel they were to them, the more their number increased, till all the land was full of them. And the children of Israel were hated by the Egyptians.

But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And they were adread because of the children of Israel.

But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. And the Egyptians were in dread of the children of Israel.

And the more they oppressed them, so much more did they multiply and increase.

Quo autem magis premebant eum, magis crescebat et augebatur: et anxietate constricti sunt propter filios Israel.

But the more. Moses relates the contest between the mercy of God and the cruelty of the king of Egypt. When, therefore, the wretched Israelites were tyrannically afflicted, he says that God came to their aid, and so powerfully that his interference was successful. Thus was that wicked and deceitful design frustrated, which the Egyptians had set on foot for destroying the Church. Thence may we, too, conceive the hope, that whatsoever the wicked imagine against us will come to nought, because God's hand is greater, and shall prevail. But we must bear afflictions patiently, because he would have us struggle against, and rise under the weight imposed upon us; and because we know that it is the peculiar office of God to oppose himself to unjust counsels, in order that they may not succeed, let us learn to abstain from all deceit and violence, lest we wantonly provoke God. But this passage is especially intended to console the believer, that he may be prepared to take up his cross more patiently; since God is sufficient to supply the help, to which the wrath of the wicked must finally yield. What is said in the second part of the verse, that the Egyptians [1] were grieved, means, that they became more anxious, as they saw that they availed nothing, and that their unexpected increase threatened still greater danger; for, since they feared the Israelites before they had afflicted them, no wonder that they felt alarmed lest they should avenge themselves when provoked. And hence the profitable instruction may be gathered, that while the wicked proceed to horrible crimes in order to insure their safety, the Almighty visits them with the very just return, that thus their anxiety is augmented. Some render it, "the Egyptians hated the people of Israel;" and so the word qvph, kutz, is sometimes taken, but the construction of the passage demands the rendering which I have given.

Footnotes

1 - vyqtsv, C., And they were burdened with anxiety In A V., And they were grieved The verb qvph is generally taken for to loathe -- W

But the more they afflicted them - The margin has pretty nearly preserved the import of the original: And as they afflicted them, so they multiplied and so they grew That is, in proportion to their afflictions was their prosperity; and had their sufferings been greater, their increase would have been still more abundant.

But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And (e) they were grieved because of the children of Israel.
(e) The more God blesses his own, the more the wicked envy them.

But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew,.... Became more numerous, "and broke out" (b), as it may be rendered, like water which breaks out and spreads itself; so the Israelites, increasing in number, spread themselves still more in the land; the Egyptians thought, by putting them to hard labour in building cities, to have weakened their strength, and made them unfit for the procreation of children; but instead of that, the more hard labour they were put unto, the more healthful and the stronger they were, and begot more children, and multiplied exceedingly: and so it is that oftentimes afflictive dispensations are multiplying and growing times to the people of God, in a spiritual sense; who grow like the palm tree, which the more weight it has upon it the more it grows; when the church of God has been most violently persecuted, the number of converts have been greater, and saints under affliction grow in grace, in faith and love, in holiness, humility, patience, peace, and joy; see Acts 12:1.
and they were grieved because of the children of Israel; because of their multiplication and increase, and because their schemes for lessening them did not succeed; they were as thorns in their eyes, as some interpret the word, as Jarchi (c) observes.
(b) "erumpebat", Junius & Tremellius, Drusius, Tigurine version. (c) "in fractione", Cajetan. apud Rivet.

But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied - To the grief and vexation of the Egyptians. Times of affliction, have oft been the church's growing times: Christianity spread most when it was persecuted.