'And you may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit [them as] a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.

'He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight.

So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor.

And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage -- in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve [was] with rigor.

Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.

And the LORD said: "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who [are] in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

"Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

Also the officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten [and] were asked, "Why have you not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today, as before?"

I was angry with My people; I have profaned My inheritance, And given them into your hand. You showed them no mercy; On the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily.

'Why have we fasted,' [they say,] 'and You have not seen? [Why] have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?' "In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers.

And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.

Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

'Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I [am] the LORD your God.

But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.

And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them.

"how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you [were] tired and weary; and he did not fear God.

And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, And against those who turn away an alien -- Because they do not fear Me," Says the LORD of hosts.