Genesis 31:42

31:42 If the God of my father – the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears ¹  – had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked, ²  and he rebuked you last night.”

Exodus 3:9

3:9 And now indeed ³  the cry ⁴  of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them. ⁵ 

Isaiah 63:9

63:9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. ⁶ 

The messenger sent from his very presence ⁷  delivered them.

In his love and mercy he protected ⁸  them;

he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times. ⁹ 

[31:42]  ¹ tn Heb “the fear of Isaac,” that is, the one whom Isaac feared and respected. For further discussion of this title see M. Malul, “More on pahad yitschaq (Gen. 31:42,53) and the Oath by the Thigh,” VT 35 (1985): 192-200.

[31:42]  ² tn Heb “My oppression and the work of my hands God saw.”

[3:9]  ³ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) focuses attention on what is being said as grounds for what follows.

[3:9]  ⁴ tn The word is a technical term for the outcry one might make to a judge. God had seen the oppression and so knew that the complaints were accurate, and so he initiated the proceedings against the oppressors (B. Jacob, Exodus, 59).

[3:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.” The word for the oppression is now לַחַץ (lakhats), which has the idea of pressure with the oppression – squeezing, pressuring – which led to its later use in the Semitic languages for torture. The repetition in the Hebrew text of the root in the participle form after this noun serves to stress the idea. This emphasis has been represented in the translation by the expression “seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them.”

[63:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “in all their distress, there was distress to him” (reading לוֹ [lo] with the margin/Qere).

[63:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “the messenger [or “angel”] of his face”; NIV “the angel of his presence.”

[63:9]  ⁸ tn Or “redeemed” (KJV, NAB, NIV), or “delivered.”

[63:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “all the days of antiquity”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “days of old.”