Therefore, tell the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you out ¹  from your enslavement to ²  the Egyptians, I will rescue you from the hard labor they impose, ³  and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

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

For the Lord our God took us and our fathers out of slavery ¹  in the land of Egypt ²  and performed these awesome miracles ³  before our very eyes. He continually protected us as we traveled and when we passed through nations. ⁴ 

As for that prophet or dreamer, ¹  he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from that place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the Lord your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge out evil from within. ² 

At that time ¹  the Lord will remove their burden from your shoulders, ²  and their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be taken off because your neck will be too large. ³ 

Those who are under the yoke as slaves ¹  must regard their own masters as deserving of full respect. This will prevent ²  the name of God and Christian teaching ³  from being discredited. ⁴ 

And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, ¹  and our children are just like their children, ²  still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. ³  Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, ⁴  since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.” ⁵ 

“But now briefly ¹  we have received mercy from the Lord our God, in that he has left us a remnant and has given us a secure position ²  in his holy place. Thus our God has enlightened our eyes ³  and has given us a little relief in our time of servitude.

Although we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our servitude. He has extended kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, in that he has revived us ¹  to restore the temple of our God and to raise ²  up its ruins and to give us a protective wall in Judah and Jerusalem. ³ 

Joseph ¹  made all the people slaves ²  from one end of Egypt’s border to the other end of it.

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

Yes, you would gamble ¹  for the fatherless, and auction off ²  your friend.

They say, ¹  “Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us! ²  Let’s free ourselves from ³  their ropes!”

You led us into a trap; ¹  you caused us to suffer. ² 

“Israel is not a slave, is he? He was not born into slavery, was he? ¹  If not, why then is he being carried off?

You sold Judeans and Jerusalemites to the Greeks, removing them far from their own country. ¹ 

“As in the days when you departed from the land of Egypt, I will show you ¹  miraculous deeds.” ² 

The ¹  patriarchs, because they were jealous of Joseph, sold ²  him into Egypt. But ³  God was with him,

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

I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves, ¹  and I broke the bars of your yoke and caused you to walk upright. ²