that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.

“I, ¹  the Lord, am your God, ²  who brought you ³  from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ⁴ 

“I am the Lord your God, he who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the place of slavery.

But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, forcing us to do burdensome labor.

¹ Moses told this ²  to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him ³  because of their discouragement ⁴  and hard labor.

¹ During ²  that long period of time ³  the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites ⁴  groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry ⁵  because of their slave labor went up to God.

So also we, when we were minors, ¹  were enslaved under the basic forces ²  of the world.

and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death.

be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, that place of slavery. ¹ 

Everyone was supposed to free their male and female Hebrew slaves. No one was supposed to keep a fellow Judean enslaved. ¹ 

For I see that you are bitterly envious ¹  and in bondage to sin.”

I ¹  have also heard ²  the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, ³  and I have remembered my covenant. ⁴ 

be sure ¹  you do not feel self-important and forget the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery,

When the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, ¹  and from the hard labor which you were made to perform,

“We are descendants ¹  of Abraham,” they replied, ²  “and have never been anyone’s slaves! How can you say, ³  ‘You will become free’?”

But God spoke as follows: ‘Your ¹  descendants will be foreigners ²  in a foreign country, whose citizens will enslave them and mistreat them for four hundred years. ³ 

But I will punish ¹  the nation they serve as slaves,’ said God, ‘and after these things they will come out of there ²  and worship ³  me in this place.’ ⁴ 

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, ¹  but you received the Spirit of adoption, ²  by whom ³  we cry, “Abba, Father.”

Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

You must stone him to death ¹  because he tried to entice you away from the Lord your God, who delivered you from the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.