You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.
Parallel Translations
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You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.
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Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.
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Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (2)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to Leviticus 25:43 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Colossians 4:1 Masters, give to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
- Exodus 1:13-14 The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve, and they made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.
- Leviticus 25:17 You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am Yahweh your God.
- Leviticus 25:46 You may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession. Of them you may take your slaves forever, but over your brothers the children of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness.
- Leviticus 25:53 As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him. He shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight.
- Ezekiel 34:4 You haven’t strengthened the diseased. You haven’t healed that which was sick. You haven’t bound up that which was broken. You haven’t brought back that which was driven away. You haven’t sought that which was lost, but you have ruled over them with force and with rigor.
- Ephesians 6:9 You masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him.
- Exodus 1:17 But the midwives feared God, and didn’t do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive.
- Exodus 1:21 Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
- Exodus 2:23 In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.
- Exodus 3:7 Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
- Exodus 3:9 Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
- Exodus 5:14 The officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and were asked, “Why haven’t you fulfilled your quota both yesterday and today, in making brick as before?”
- Deuteronomy 25:18 how he met you by the way, and struck the rearmost of you, all who were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he didn’t fear God.
- Isaiah 47:6 I was angry with my people. I profaned my inheritance and gave them into your hand. You showed them no mercy. You laid a very heavy yoke on the aged.
- Isaiah 58:3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and oppress all your laborers.
- Malachi 3:5 I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Lev 25:43 Thou shalt not rule over him with…
Lev 25:43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.
Ver. 43. Rule over him with rigour.] As the Egyptians did over the Israelites. {Exo 1:13} Thy servant is made of the same earth with thee, and hath right to the same heaven with thee. See Gal 3:28. The servant paid the half shekel as well as the master. Stand not therefore on terms of inequality, but know that yourselves also have a Master in heaven. Do therefore to them "that which is right and equal." {Col 4:1}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Though thou dost not fear them who are in…
Though thou dost not fear them who are in thy power, and unable to right themselves, yet fear that God who hath commanded thee to use them kindly, and who can and will avenge their cause, if thou dost oppress them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour,.... As…
Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour,.... As the Egyptians ruled over the Israelites, and made them to serve, Exo 1:13; where the same word is used as here, and seems designed to put them in mind of it, that so they might abstain from such usage of their brethren, which they had met with from their most cruel enemies; it signifies tyranny and oppression, treating them with great severity, laying hard and heavy tasks and burdens upon them they could not bear; enjoining them things they could not perform, and ordering them to do what were unnecessary, and without any limitation with respect to time:
but shalt fear thy God; that has been good to thee, and has brought thee out of hard and rigorous bondage in Egypt; and which should be remembered with thankfulness, and they should fear to offend so good a God by using a brother cruelly.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Fear thy God - Though thou dost not fear…
Fear thy God - Though thou dost not fear them who are in thy power, and unable to right themselves, yet fear that God who hath commanded thee to use them kindly, and who can and will avenge their cause, if thou oppress them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 43. Thou shalt not rule over him with…
Verse 43. Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour] What is rigorous service? "Service which is not determined, and service whereof there is no need." This is the definition given by the Jews; but much more is implied in this command than is expressed here. Labour beyond the person's strength, or labour too long continued, or in unhealthy or uncomfortable places and circumstances, or without sufficient food, c., is labour exacted with rigour, and consequently inhuman and this law is made, not for the Mosaic dispensation and the Jewish people, but for every dispensation and for every people under heaven.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Fear thy God - Yahweh was the Lord and…
Fear thy God - Yahweh was the Lord and Master of His people. To treat a Hebrew as a slave was therefore to interfere with the rights of Yahweh. Compare Rom 14:4.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Might. Hebrew, "rigour or haughtiness." Septuagint, "Do not make…
Might. Hebrew, "rigour or haughtiness." Septuagint, "Do not make him strain himself with work."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 43. Not rule… with rigour — Literally, thou shalt…
43. Not rule… with rigour — Literally, thou shalt not tread on him. The rabbins specified a variety of duties as coming under these general precepts; as compensation for personal injury, exemption from such menial duties as unbinding the master’s sandals or carrying him on a litter, while he was shielded from serious abusive words. The master was also obliged to maintain the servant’s wife and children, though, if they were free, he could exact no work from them. At the end of his term of service the master was forbidden “to let him go away empty.” Deu_15:13-14.
Fear thy God — Genuine piety always bears good will towards man as its first fruit. Act_16:33; Eph_6:9.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (43) Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour.—The…
(43) Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour.—The master is forbidden to tyrannise over him as if he were a slave without any rights.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but…
Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God, is paralleled by the New Testament injunction, "And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him". (Eph_6:9)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (See Scofield "Psa 19:9")
fear
(See Scofield "Psa 19:9")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 25:43 As human beings created in God’s image (Gen…
25:43 As human beings created in God’s image (Gen 1:26, 27; Prov 14:31; 17:5) and as fellow Israelites in covenant with God, even bondservants were to be treated with respect. God’s law includes numerous provisions for their protection (see Exod 21:20, 26-27). All human beings must be treated in a way that reflects reverence for God (see Prov 14:31; 17:5; Jas 2:14-16; 3:9-10).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.