What does Exodus 1:13 mean?

The first phase of Pharaoh's oppression was ineffective in stopping Israeli population growth (Exodus 1:12). Therefore, he started a second phase of oppression. The "ruthless" increase in enslavement goes beyond servitude to a new level of mistreatment.

This is a crucial point when interpreting the Bible's stance on slavery. The terms "slave" and "slavery," as used in Scripture, include a wide variety of arrangements. Most people in the ancient world were some type of "slave" of another person. The slavery described here is racial, permanent, hereditary, and inhuman. This is sometimes referred to as "chattel slavery," infamously associated with the Atlantic slave trade and the American Civil War. This type of bondage is abhorred by God, as made clear later in the book of Exodus.

Specific aspects of this forced labor included the drudgery of making mortar and bricks, and backbreaking field labor (Exodus 1:14). The Jews who moved into Egypt formerly served as shepherds, watching sheep and likely other livestock in the land of Goshen during Joseph's lifetime (Genesis 46:33–34; 47:5–6). Now the Hebrews were kept from caring for their own livestock and fields to build store cities and work the fields of the Egyptians. This work arrangement would have resulted in women and children caring for herds and housing. Education and health care would suffer; long hours would result in no time for learning, more sickness, and more injury. Pharaoh hoped to control population growth through harsh physical treatment. Though brutal, his efforts would soon move toward even more violent actions in the following verses.