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 3:7

3:7 The Lord said, “I have surely seen ³  the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. ⁴ 

Exodus 3:9

3:9 And now indeed ⁵  the cry ⁶  of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them. ⁷ 

Leviticus 19:13

19:13 You must not oppress your neighbor or commit robbery against him. ⁸  You must not withhold ⁹  the wages of the hired laborer overnight until morning.

Deuteronomy 24:15

24:15 You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

Psalms 12:5

12:5 “Because of the violence done to the oppressed, ¹⁰ 

because of the painful cries ¹¹  of the needy,

I will spring into action,” ¹²  says the Lord.

“I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” ¹³ 

Psalms 139:3

139:3 You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; ¹⁴ 

you are aware of everything I do. ¹⁵ 

Ecclesiastes 5:8

Government Corruption

5:8 If you see the extortion ¹⁶  of the poor,

or the perversion ¹⁷  of justice and fairness in the government, ¹⁸ 

do not be astonished by the matter.

For the high official is watched by a higher official, ¹⁹ 

and there are higher ones over them! ²⁰ 

Acts 7:34

7:34 I have certainly seen the suffering ²¹  of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. ²²  Now ²³  come, I will send you to Egypt.’ ²⁴ 

Ephesians 6:9

6:9 Masters, ²⁵  treat your slaves ²⁶  the same way, ²⁷  giving up the use of threats, ²⁸  because you know that both you and they have the same master in heaven, ²⁹  and there is no favoritism with him.

[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.”

[3:7]  ³ tn The use of the infinitive absolute with the perfect tense intensifies the statement: I have surely seen – there is no doubt that I have seen and will do something about it.

[3:7]  ⁴ sn Two new words are introduced now to the report of suffering: “affliction” and “pain/suffering.” These add to the dimension of the oppression of God’s people.

[3:9]  ⁵ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) focuses attention on what is being said as grounds for what follows.

[3:9]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.”

[19:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “You shall not oppress your neighbor and you shall not rob.”

[19:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “hold back with you”; perhaps “hold back for yourself” (cf. NRSV “keep for yourself”).

[12:5]  ¹⁰ tn The term translated “oppressed” is an objective genitive; the oppressed are the recipients/victims of violence.

[12:5]  ¹¹ tn Elsewhere in the psalms this noun is used of the painful groans of prisoners awaiting death (79:11; 102:20). The related verb is used of the painful groaning of those wounded in combat (Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15) and of the mournful sighing of those in grief (Ezek 9:4; 24:17).

[12:5]  ¹² tn Heb “I will rise up.”

[12:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “I will place in deliverance, he pants for it.” The final two words in Hebrew (יָפִיחַ לוֹ, yafiakh lo) comprise an asyndetic relative clause, “the one who pants for it.” “The one who pants” is the object of the verb “place” and the antecedent of the pronominal suffix (in the phrase “for it”) is “deliverance.” Another option is to translate, “I will place in deliverance the witness for him,” repointing יָפִיחַ (a Hiphil imperfect from פּוּחַ, puakh, “pant”) as יָפֵחַ (yafeakh), a noun meaning “witness.” In this case the Lord would be promising protection to those who have the courage to support the oppressed in the court of law. However, the first part of the verse focuses on the oppressed, not their advocates.

[139:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my traveling and my lying down you measure.” The verb זָרָה (zarah, “to measure”) is probably here a denominative from זָרָת (zarat, “a span; a measure”), though some derive it from זָרָה (zarat, “to winnow; to sift”; see BDB 279-80 s.v. זָרָה).

[139:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all my ways.”

[5:8]  ¹⁶ tn Alternately, “oppression.” The term עֹשֶׁק (’osheq) has a basic two-fold range of meaning: (1) “oppression; brutality” (e.g., Isa 54:14); and (2) “extortion” (e.g., Ps 62:11); see HALOT 897 s.v. עֹשֶׁק; BDB 799 s.v. עֹשֶׁק. The LXX understands the term as “oppression,” as the translation συκοφαντίαν (sukofantian, “oppression”) indicates. Likewise, HALOT 897 s.v. עֹשֶׁק 1 classifies this usage as “oppression” against the poor. However, the context of 5:8-9 [7-8 HT] focuses on corrupt government officials robbing people of the fruit of their labor through extortion and the perversion of justice.

[5:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “robbery.” The noun גֵזֶל (gezel, “robbery”) refers to the wrestling away of righteousness or the perversion of justice (HALOT 186 s.v. גֵּזֶל). The related forms of the root גזל mean “to rob; to loot” (HALOT 186 s.v. גֵּזֶל). The term “robbery” is used as a figure for the perversion of justice (hypocatastasis): just as a thief robs his victims through physical violence, so corrupt government officials “rob” the poor through the perversion of justice.

[5:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in the province.”

[5:8]  ¹⁹ tn The word “official” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:8]  ²⁰ sn And there are higher ones over them! This may describe a corrupt system of government in which each level of hierarchy exploits its subordinates, all the way down to the peasants: “Set in authority over the people is an official who enriches himself at their expense; he is watched by a more authoritative governor who also has his share of the spoils; and above them are other officers of the State who likewise have to be satisfied”; see A. Cohen, The Five Megilloth (SoBB), 141.

[7:34]  ²¹ tn Or “mistreatment.”

[7:34]  ²² tn Or “to set them free.”

[7:34]  ²³ tn Grk “And now.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[7:34]  ²⁴ sn A quotation from Exod 3:7-8, 10.

[6:9]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:9]  ²⁶ tn Though the Greek text only has αὐτούς (autous, “them”), the antecedent is the slaves of the masters. Therefore, it was translated this way to make it explicit in English.

[6:9]  ²⁷ tn Grk “do the same things to them.”

[6:9]  ²⁸ tn Grk “giving up the threat.”

[6:9]  ²⁹ tn Grk “because of both they and you, the Lord is, in heaven…”