Leviticus 25:46

25:46 You may give them as inheritance to your children after you to possess as property. You may enslave them perpetually. However, as for your brothers the Israelites, no man may rule over his brother harshly. ¹ 

Exodus 1:14

1:14 They made their lives bitter ²  by ³  hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service ⁴  in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 25:14

25:14 For many nations and great kings will make slaves of the king of Babylon and his nation ⁶  too. I will repay them for all they have done!’” ⁷ 

Jeremiah 27:7

27:7 All nations must serve him and his son and grandson ⁸  until the time comes for his own nation to fall. ⁹  Then many nations and great kings will in turn subjugate Babylon. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 30:8

30:8 When the time for them to be rescued comes,” ¹¹ 

says the Lord who rules over all, ¹² 

“I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. ¹³ 

I will deliver you from captivity. ¹⁴ 

Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them.

¹ tn Heb “and your brothers, the sons of Israel, a man in his brother you shall not rule in him in violence.”

² sn The verb מָרַר (marar) anticipates the introduction of the theme of bitterness in the instructions for the Passover.

³ tn The preposition bet (ב) in this verse has the instrumental use: “by means of” (see GKC 380 §119.o).

⁴ tn Heb “and in all service.”

⁵ tn The line could be more literally translated, “All their service in which they served them [was] with rigor.” This takes the referent of בָּהֶם (bahem) to be the Egyptians. The pronoun may also resume the reference to the kinds of service and so not be needed in English: “All their service in which they served [was] with rigor.”

⁶ tn Heb “make slaves of them.” The verb form here indicates that the action is as good as done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). For the use of the verb rendered “makes slaves” see parallel usage in Lev 25:39, 46 (cf. BDB 713 s.v. עָבַד 3).

⁷ tn Heb “according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.” The two phrases are synonymous; it would be hard to represent them both in translation without being redundant. The translation attempts to represent them by the qualifier “all” before the first phrase.

⁸ sn This is a figure that emphasizes that they will serve for a long time but not for an unlimited duration. The kingdom of Babylon lasted a relatively short time by ancient standards. It lasted from 605 b.c. when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish until the fall of Babylon in 538 b.c. There were only four rulers. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, Evil Merodach (cf. 52:31), and two other rulers who were not descended from him.

⁹ tn Heb “until the time of his land, even his, comes.” The independent pronoun is placed here for emphasis on the possessive pronoun. The word “time” is used by substitution for the things that are done in it (compare in the NT John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20 “his hour had not yet come”).

¹⁰ tn Heb “him.” This is a good example of the figure of substitution where the person is put for his descendants or the nation or subject he rules. (See Gen 28:13-14 for another good example and Acts 22:7 in the NT.)

¹¹ tn Heb “And it shall happen in that day.”

¹² tn Heb “Oracle of Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of the title for God.

¹³ tn Heb “I will break his yoke from upon your neck.” For the explanation of the figure see the study note on 27:2. The shift from third person at the end of v. 7 to second person in v. 8c, d and back to third person in v. 8e is typical of Hebrew poetry in the book of Psalms and in the prophetic books (cf., GKC 351 §114.p and compare usage in Deut 32:15; Isa 5:8 listed there). The present translation, like several other modern ones, has typically leveled them to the same person to avoid confusion for modern readers who are not accustomed to this poetic tradition.

¹⁴ tn Heb “I will tear off their bands.” The “bands” are the leather straps which held the yoke bars in place (cf. 27:2). The metaphor of the “yoke on the neck” is continued. The translation reflects the sense of the metaphor but not the specific referent.