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 

Leviticus 25:53

25:53 He must be with the one who bought him ²  like a yearly hired worker. ³  The one who bought him ⁴  must not rule over him harshly in your sight.

Exodus 1:13-14

1:13 and they ⁵  made the Israelites serve rigorously. ⁶  1:14 They made their lives bitter ⁷  by ⁸  hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service ⁹  in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous. ¹⁰ 

Exodus 2:23

The Call of the Deliverer

2:23 ¹¹ During ¹²  that long period of time ¹³  the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites ¹⁴  groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry ¹⁵  because of their slave labor went up to God.

Exodus 3:7

3:7 The Lord said, “I have surely seen ¹⁶  the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. ¹⁷ 

Exodus 3:9

3:9 And now indeed ¹⁸  the cry ¹⁹  of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them. ²⁰ 

Exodus 5:14

5:14 The Israelite foremen whom Pharaoh’s slave masters had set over them were beaten and were asked, ²¹  “Why did you not complete your requirement for brickmaking as in the past – both yesterday and today?” ²² 

Isaiah 47:6

47:6 I was angry at my people;

I defiled my special possession

and handed them over to you.

You showed them no mercy; ²³ 

you even placed a very heavy burden on old people. ²⁴ 

Isaiah 58:3

58:3 They lament, ²⁵  ‘Why don’t you notice when we fast?

Why don’t you pay attention when we humble ourselves?’

Look, at the same time you fast, you satisfy your selfish desires, ²⁶ 

you oppress your workers. ²⁷ 

Ephesians 6:9

6:9 Masters, ²⁸  treat your slaves ²⁹  the same way, ³⁰  giving up the use of threats, ³¹  because you know that both you and they have the same master in heaven, ³²  and there is no favoritism with him.

Colossians 4:1

4:1 Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

[25:46]  ¹ tn Heb “and your brothers, the sons of Israel, a man in his brother you shall not rule in him in violence.”

[25:53]  ² tn Heb “be with him”; the referent (the one who bought him) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:53]  ³ tn Heb “As a hired worker year in year.”

[25:53]  ⁴ tn Heb “He”; the referent (the one who bought him) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Egyptians.” For stylistic reasons this has been replaced by the pronoun “they” in the translation.

[1:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “with rigor, oppression.”

[1:14]  ⁷ sn The verb מָרַר (marar) anticipates the introduction of the theme of bitterness in the instructions for the Passover.

[1:14]  ⁸ tn The preposition bet (ב) in this verse has the instrumental use: “by means of” (see GKC 380 §119.o).

[1:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “and in all service.”

[1:14]  ¹⁰ 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.”

[2:23]  ¹¹ sn The next section of the book is often referred to as the “Call of Moses,” and that is certainly true. But it is much more than that. It is the divine preparation of the servant of God, a servant who already knew what his destiny was. In this section Moses is shown how his destiny will be accomplished. It will be accomplished because the divine presence will guarantee the power, and the promise of that presence comes with the important “I AM” revelation. The message that comes through in this, and other “I will be with you” passages, is that when the promise of God’s presence is correctly appropriated by faith, the servant of God can begin to build confidence for the task that lies ahead. It will no longer be, “Who am I that I should go?” but “I AM with you” that matters. The first little section, 2:23-25, serves as a transition and introduction, for it records the Lord’s response to Israel in her affliction. The second part is the revelation to Moses at the burning bush (3:1-10), which is one of the most significant theological sections in the Torah. Finally, the record of Moses’ response to the call with his objections (3:11-22), makes up the third part, and in a way, is a transition to the next section, where God supplies proof of his power.

[2:23]  ¹² tn The verse begins with the temporal indicator “And it was” (cf. KJV, ASV “And it came to pass”). This has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.

[2:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “in those many days.”

[2:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”

[2:23]  ¹⁵ tn “They cried out” is from זָעַק (za’aq), and “desperate cry” is from שַׁוְעָה (shava’h).

[3:7]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) focuses attention on what is being said as grounds for what follows.

[3:9]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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.”

[5:14]  ²¹ tn The quotation is introduced with the common word לֵאמֹר (le’mor, “saying”) and no mention of who said the question.

[5:14]  ²² sn The idioms for time here are found also in 3:10 and 5:7-8. This question no doubt represents many accusations shouted at Israelites during the period when it was becoming obvious that, despite all their efforts, they were unable to meet their quotas as before.

[47:6]  ²³ tn Or “compassion.”

[47:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “on the old you made very heavy your yoke.”

[58:3]  ²⁵ tn The words “they lament” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[58:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “you find pleasure”; NASB “you find your desire.”

[58:3]  ²⁷ tn Or perhaps, “debtors.” See HALOT 865 s.v. * עָצֵב.

[6:9]  ²⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:9]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ tn Grk “do the same things to them.”

[6:9]  ³¹ tn Grk “giving up the threat.”

[6:9]  ³² tn Grk “because of both they and you, the Lord is, in heaven…”