Thematic Bible: Bondage


Thematic Bible



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

And it came to pass in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.

Therefore say to the sons of Israel, I am LORD. And I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments.


For we are bondmen, yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended loving kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the ruins of it, a




And the men of Ephraim said to him, Why have thou done thus to us, that thou did not call us when thou went to fight with Midian? And they chided with him sharply. And he said to them, What have I now done in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? God has delivered into your hand the rulers of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger was abated toward him when he had said that. read more.
And Gideon came to the Jordan, [and] passed over, he, and the three hundred men who were with him, faint, yet pursuing. And he said to the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian. And the rulers of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thy hand that we should give bread to thine army? And Gideon said, Therefore when LORD has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers. And he went up from there to Penuel, and spoke to them in like manner, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. And he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower. Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army of the sons of the east, for there fell a hundred and twenty thousand men who drew a sword. And Gideon went up by the way of those who dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the army, for the army was confident. And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued after them. And he took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the army. And Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres. And he caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him. And he described for him the rulers of Succoth, and the elders of it, seventy-seven men. And he came to the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom ye taunted me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thy hand, that we should give bread to thy men who are weary? And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. And he broke down the tower of Penuel, and killed the men of the city. Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye killed at Tabor? And they answered, As thou are, so were they. Each one resembled the sons of a king. And he said, They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As LORD lives, if ye had saved them alive, I would not kill you. And he said to Jether his first-born, Up, and kill them. But the youth did not draw his sword, for he feared because he was yet a youth. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were on their camels' necks. Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also, for thou have saved us out of the hand of Midian. And Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. LORD shall rule over you. And Gideon said to them, I would make a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his spoil. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and cast in it every man the earrings of his spoil. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred [shekels] of gold, besides the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains tha And Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah. And all Israel played the harlot after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon, and to his house. So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they lifted up their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.


And the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of LORD, when Ehud was dead. And LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan who reigned in Hazor, the captain of whose army was Sisera who dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. And the sons of Israel cried to LORD, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he mightily oppressed the sons of Israel twenty years.



His own iniquities shall take a wicked man, and he shall be held with the cords of his sin.



Know ye not, that to what ye present yourselves as bondmen for obedience, ye are bondmen to what ye obey, whether of sin for death, or of obedience for righteousness?