²³ During that long period,^(A) the king of Egypt died.^(B) The Israelites groaned in their slavery^(C) and cried out, and their cry^(D) for help because of their slavery went up to God. ²⁴ God heard their groaning and he remembered^(E) his covenant^(F) with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. ²⁵ So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned^(G) about them.

⁷ The Lord said, “I have indeed seen^(A) the misery^(B) of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned^(C) about their suffering.^{(D) 8} So I have come down^(E) to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land,^(F) a land flowing with milk and honey^(G)—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites^(H) and Jebusites.^{(I) 9} And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing^(J) them. ¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending^(K) you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”^(L)

⁵ Moreover, I have heard the groaning^(A) of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.^(B)

⁶ “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.^(C) I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem^(D) you with an outstretched arm^(E) and with mighty acts of judgment.^(F)

⁶ But when they said, “Give us a king^(A) to lead us,” this displeased^(B) Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord told him: “Listen^(C) to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected,^(D) but they have rejected me as their king.^{(E) 8} As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking^(F) me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. ⁹ Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know^(G) what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”

¹⁰ Samuel told^(H) all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. ¹¹ He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take^(I) your sons and make them serve^(J) with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots.^{(K) 12} Some he will assign to be commanders^(L) of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ¹⁴ He will take the best of your^(M) fields and vineyards^(N) and olive groves and give them to his attendants.^{(O) 15} He will take a tenth^(P) of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. ¹⁶ Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle^[a] and donkeys he will take for his own use. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. ¹⁸ When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer^(Q) you in that day.^(R)”

The Widow’s Olive Oil

4 The wife of a man from the company^(A) of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor^(B) is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”

⁹ “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph,^(A) they sold him as a slave into Egypt.^(B) But God was with him^{(C) 10} and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.^(D)