What are…
treasure cities in the King James Version?

“Treasure cities” is the older English (especially King James Version) rendering of the Hebrew phrase עָרֵי מִסְכְּנוֹת (ʿārê miskĕnôt), meaning “cities of storage” or “store cities.”

Modern translations usually render it “store cities” or “storage cities,” which better reflects their function.

“Therefore they set taskmasters over them [the Israelites] to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.” (KJV) —Exodus 1:11 KJV

The KJV’s “treasure cities” rendering can be misleading if read as places full of gold; the biblical and archaeological context shows they were primarily storage and supply cities.

The enslaved Israelites were forced to construct these cities for Pharaoh. They were supply depots—fortified centers where grain, food supplies, military equipment, and other provisions were stockpiled, especially useful for defending Egypt’s northeastern frontier.

• Pithom is generally identified with an Egyptian site in the eastern Nile Delta (commonly linked with Tell el-Retaba or Tell el-Maskhuta in the Wadi Tumilat).
• Raamses (aka Rameses) corresponds to the Egyptian capital Pi-Ramesses in the eastern Nile Delta.

The same Hebrew term is used for cities Solomon built:

• 1 Kings 9:19 — Solomon built “cities of store,” cities for his chariots and horsemen.
• 2 Chronicles 8:4, 6 — Store cities in Hamath and throughout his territory

1 Chronicles 27:25 mentions royal storehouses (KJV: “treasure cities”) for King David’s possessions that were located “in the country, in the cities, in the villages and in the towers.”