The Egyptians treated us harshly: Contemporary English Version has “were cruel and had no pity on us.” By a dramatic shift to the first person plural us, the Israelite becomes part of the events that had taken place centuries before.

Treated us harshly, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: again three terms that are similar in meaning are used to stress the cruel oppression they suffered in Egypt (see Exo 1.8-14). Contemporary English Version uses four verbs: “The Egyptians were cruel and had no pity on us. They abused our people and forced us into slavery.” Good News Translation uses two verbs, combining the last two. An alternative model is:

• The Egyptians treated us harshly and made us do hard labor [or, work very hard] until our spirits [or hearts, or livers] were sore [or, broken].

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .