Then they spat in his face and struck him with their fists. And some slapped him,

bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat ¹  you.

They will flog him severely ¹  and kill him. Yet ²  on the third day he will rise again.”

About that time King Herod ¹  laid hands on ²  some from the church to harm them. ³ 

In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless.

unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, savage, opposed to what is good,

(the world was not worthy of them); they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and openings in the earth.

Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who oppressed them. But in the time of their distress they called to you, and you heard from heaven. In your abundant compassion you provided them with deliverers to rescue them from ¹  their adversaries.

At that time ¹  the Lord will punish with his destructive, ²  great, and powerful sword Leviathan the fast-moving ³  serpent, Leviathan the squirming serpent; he will kill the sea monster. ⁴ 

I was angry at my people; I defiled my special possession and handed them over to you. You showed them no mercy; ¹  you even placed a very heavy burden on old people. ² 

Remember what ¹  I told you, ‘A slave ²  is not greater than his master.’ ³  If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed ⁴  my word, they will obey ⁵  yours too.

Why do you forget ¹  the Lord, who made you, who stretched out the sky ²  and founded the earth? Why do you constantly tremble all day long ³  at the anger of the oppressor, when he makes plans to destroy? Where is the anger of the oppressor? ⁴ 

Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain ¹  that your descendants will be strangers ²  in a foreign country. ³  They will be enslaved and oppressed ⁴  for four hundred years.

He recognized it and exclaimed, “It is my son’s tunic! A wild animal has eaten him! ¹  Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”

Israel said, “Why did you bring this trouble ¹  on me by telling ²  the man you had one more brother?”

But the more the Egyptians ¹  oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread. ²  As a result the Egyptians loathed ³  the Israelites,

They made their lives bitter ¹  by ²  hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service ³  in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous. ⁴ 

The Lord said, “I have surely seen ¹  the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. ² 

And now indeed ¹  the cry ²  of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them. ³ 

I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God. ¹  Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from your enslavement to ²  the Egyptians.