Lexicon :: Strong's H5065 - nāḡaś

The LORD said, “I have in fact seen the affliction (suffering, desolation) of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters (oppressors); for I know their pain and suffering.

Then the [Egyptian] taskmasters [in charge] of the people and their [Hebrew] foremen went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you any straw.

But the men of Israel were hard-pressed that day, because Saul had put the people under a curse, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food before evening, and before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.” So none of the people ate any food.

“There the prisoners rest together;

They do not hear the taskmaster’s voice.

“He scorns the tumult of the city,

And does not hear the shouting of the taskmaster.

And the people will be oppressed,

Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor;

The boy will be arrogant and insolent toward the elder

And the vulgar (common) toward the honorable [person of rank].

O My people! Children are their oppressors,

And women rule over them.

O My people! Your leaders lead you astray

And confuse (destroy, swallow up) the direction of your paths.

For You will break the yoke of Israel’s burden and the staff (goad) on their shoulders,

The rod of their oppressor, as at the [fn]battle of Midian.

“How the oppressor has ceased [his insolence],

And how the fury has ceased!

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He did not open His mouth [to complain or defend Himself];

Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

And like a sheep that is silent before her shearers,

So He did not open His mouth.

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You do not see it?

Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’

Hear this [O Israel], on the day of your fast [when you should be grieving for your sins] you find something you desire [to do],

And you force your hired servants to work [instead of stopping all work, as the law teaches].

“Instead of bronze I will bring gold,

And instead of iron I will bring silver,

And instead of wood, bronze,

And instead of stones, iron.

And [instead of the tyranny of the present] I will appoint peace as your officers,

And righteousness your rulers.

“Then in his place one (his eldest son, Seleucus IV Philopator) will arise who will send an oppressor through the Jewel of his kingdom; yet within a few days he will be [fn]shattered, though not in anger nor in battle.

Then I will camp around My house [as a guard] because of an army,

Because of him who passes by and returns;

And no oppressor will again overrun them (Israel),

For now My eyes are upon them [providentially protecting them].

“From them (Judah) shall come the [fn]Cornerstone,

From them the tent peg,

From them the bow of battle,

From them every ruler, all of them together.