That same day Pharaoh commanded ¹  the slave masters and foremen ²  who were ³  over the people: ⁴ 

You must not return an escaped slave to his master when he has run away to you. ¹ 

Now Elisha was sitting in his house with the community leaders. ¹  The king ²  sent a messenger on ahead, but before he arrived, ³  Elisha ⁴  said to the leaders, ⁵  “Do you realize this assassin intends to cut off my head?” ⁶  Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and lean against it. His master will certainly be right behind him.” ⁷ 

A servant who acts wisely ¹  will rule over ²  an heir ³  who behaves shamefully, ⁴  and will share the inheritance along with the relatives. ⁵ 

under an unloved ¹  woman who is married, and under a female servant who dispossesses ²  her mistress.

The leaders will not be able to run away and hide. ¹  The shepherds of the flocks will not be able to escape.

One ¹  should think about us this way – as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

He had sexual relations with ¹  Hagar, and she became pregnant. ²  Once Hagar realized she was pregnant, she despised Sarai. ³ 

Doesn’t my master drink from this cup ¹  and use it for divination? ²  You have done wrong!’” ³ 

If one of us has it, ¹  he will die, and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves!”

So the slave masters of the people and their foremen went to the Israelites and said, ¹  “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I am not giving ²  you straw.

The slave masters were pressuring ¹  them, saying, “Complete ²  your work for each day, just like when there was straw!”

But Uriah stayed at the door of the palace with all ¹  the servants of his lord. He did not go down to his house.

They and their relatives, all of them skilled and trained to make music to the Lord, numbered two hundred eighty-eight. ¹ 

The men of Tekoa worked on the section adjacent to them, but their town leaders ¹  would not assist ²  with the work of their master. ³ 

Listen to the cries of anguish of the leaders. Listen to the wails of the shepherds of the flocks. They are wailing because the Lord is about to destroy their lands. ¹ 

But later ¹  they had changed their minds. They had taken back their male and female slaves that they had freed and forced them to be slaves again. ² 

If after all there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords),

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, ¹  because you know that we will be judged more strictly. ² 

Although these false teachers promise ¹  such people ²  freedom, they themselves are enslaved to ³  immorality. ⁴  For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved. ⁵