The king ¹  said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, ²  you wicked slave! ³  So you knew, did you, that I was a severe ⁴  man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow?

When harvest time came, he sent a slave ¹  to the tenants so that they would give ²  him his portion of the crop. ³  However, the tenants beat his slave ⁴  and sent him away empty-handed.

For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.

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.

So Abimelech gave ¹  sheep, cattle, and male and female servants to Abraham. He also gave his wife Sarah back to him.

So they put foremen ¹  over the Israelites ²  to oppress ³  them with hard labor. As a result ⁴  they built Pithom and Rameses ⁵  as store cities for Pharaoh.

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 

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

The Lord will judge his people, and will change his plans concerning ¹  his servants; when he sees that their power has disappeared, and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.

When the time for them to be rescued comes,” ¹  says the Lord who rules over all, ²  “I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. ³  I will deliver you from captivity. ⁴  Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them.

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah had made a covenant ¹  with all the people in Jerusalem ²  to grant their slaves their freedom.

So the slaves ¹  of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’

He said, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So ¹  the slaves replied, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them?’

Then the slave threw himself to the ground ¹  before him, saying, ²  ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you everything.’

Then his fellow slave threw himself down and begged him, ¹  ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you.’

When ¹  his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were very upset and went and told their lord everything that had taken place.

And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“For it is like a man going on a journey, who summoned his slaves ¹  and entrusted his property to them.

But his master answered, ¹  ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter?

But ¹  one of those with Jesus grabbed ²  his sword, drew it out, and struck the high priest’s slave, ³  cutting off his ear.