1846、“这些人要苦待他们”表示他们的严厉试探。这从“苦待”的含义清楚可知，“苦待”或苦难是指迫害，因而是指试探。在主的圣言中，“苦难”或“苦待”（经上或译为“苦炼”、“苦楚”、“苦害”、“灾难”等等）并非表示别的。如以赛亚书：
我要熬炼你，却不在银子里；我要在苦难的炉中拣选你。（以赛亚书48:10）
“苦难”表示试探。摩西五经：
你要记得耶和华你的神在旷野一路引导你这四十年，是要苦炼你、试探你，使你终究得好处。（申命记8:2，16）
“苦炼”明显表示试探。
申命记：
埃及人恶待我们，苦害我们，将苦役加在我们身上；于是我们呼求耶和华我们列祖的神，耶和华听见我们的声音，看见我们的苦楚、劳碌和压迫。（申命记26:6-7）
此处所提到的事和本节一样，即：他们，即亚伯兰的后代服苦役，并受到苦害，这同样表示信徒所受的试探，他们在旷野所受的苦难也表示信徒所受的试探；这些苦难还代表主的试探。
如以赛亚书：
祂被藐视，是忧患之人，所以我们可以说向祂掩面；祂被藐视，我们也不尊重祂。祂诚然担当我们的病患，肩负我们的痛苦；我们却以为祂受责打，被神击打，并受苦待了。（以赛亚书53:3-4）
这些话表示主的试探；“祂诚然担当我们的病患，肩负我们的痛苦”这句话不是说信徒不会经历任何试探，也不是说祂把他们的罪转到了自己身上，从而担当了它们；而是说祂通过试探的争战和胜利征服了地狱；甚至就其人身或人性本质而言，祂将独自以这种方式忍受信徒所经历的试探。
主也将试探称为“苦难”。如马可福音：
那撒在石头地上的，就是人听了这话后，他们里面没有根，不能持久，及至因这话发生苦难和逼迫，立刻就跌倒了。（马可福音4:16-17）
此处“苦难”明显表示试探；“他们里面没有根”是指没有仁，因为信扎根于仁，那些没有这种根的人就会在试探中屈服。约翰福音：
在世上你们有苦难，但你们可以放心，我已经胜了世界。（约翰福音16:33）
此处“苦难”表示试探。
马太福音：
民族要起来攻击民族，国家要起来攻击国家。这一切只是痛苦的开始。那时，他们要把你们送交苦难中。那时必有大苦难，是自世界的起头以来从未有过的。那些日子的灾难一过去，日头就变黑了。（马太福音24:7-9，21，29）
这论及时代的完结或教会的末期；“苦难或灾难”表示外在和内在的试探；外在试探是指来自世界的迫害，内在试探是指来自魔鬼的迫害。“民族起来攻击民族，国家起来攻击国家”，以及“日头”（即主，爱和仁）变黑了表示仁将不存在；。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]1846. And these will afflict them means that their trials would be heavy. This can be seen from the symbolism of afflicting or affliction as persecution and so as putting a person to the test. Affliction means nothing else in the Lord's Word, as in Isaiah:
I will purge you, and not with silver; I will choose you in the crucible of affliction. (Isaiah 48:10)
Affliction stands for a time of trial. In Moses:
You shall remember all the path by which Jehovah your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to afflict you and to test you. Jehovah has been the one feeding you manna in the wilderness — which your ancestors did not recognize — in order to afflict you and in order to test you, to do good to you in the end. (Deuteronomy 8:2, 16)
Afflicting explicitly stands for testing.
[2] In the same author:
... when the Egyptians did evil to us and afflicted us and laid hard slavery on us, and we cried out to Jehovah, God of our ancestors, and Jehovah listened to our voice and saw our affliction and our labor and our oppression. (Deuteronomy 26:6-7)
This passage contains the same themes as the present verse — the enslavement and affliction of Abram's descendants, which likewise symbolized the trials of the faithful, as did those descendants' hardships in the wilderness. These troubles also represented the Lord's trials,
[3] as in Isaiah:
He was despised, a man in pain, and we therefore hid our faces from him, so to speak; he was despised, and we did not value him. Nevertheless our sicknesses he bore and our pain he shouldered, but we counted him beaten, struck by God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:3-4)
These things symbolize the Lord's trials. The idea that he bore our sicknesses and shouldered our pain does not mean that the faithful would never face terrible challenges, or that he bore our sins by deflecting them onto himself. What it means is that he overcame the hells through the struggles and victories of his trials and that as a result he alone, in his human capacity, would bear the weight of the trials that religious people undergo.
[4] The Lord himself calls times of trial afflictions. In Mark:
Those who are sown on stony places, when they hear the message, do not have any root in themselves but are fickle. Later, when affliction and persecution arise because of the message, they immediately stumble. (Mark 4:16-17)
Affliction stands explicitly for trials here. Not having any root in themselves is not having charity, since faith is rooted in charity. People who have no such root succumb in times of trial. In John:
In the world you will have affliction, but rest assured; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)
The affliction stands for trials.
[5] In Matthew:
Nation will be roused against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. All these things will be the beginning of woes; then they will hand you over to affliction. Then there will be great affliction such as there has not been from the beginning of the world. Immediately after the affliction of those days, the sun will go dark. (Matthew 24:7-8, 9, 21, 29)
This concerns the close of the age, or the final days of the church. The affliction stands for external and internal trials. External trials are persecution by the world; internal trials are persecution by the Devil. Nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom symbolize absence of charity, as does the fact that the sun (the Lord; love and charity) will go dark.
Potts(1905-1910) 1846
1846. And they shall afflict them. That this signifies their severe temptations, may be seen from the signification of "afflicting," or of "affliction," as being persecution, consequently temptation. In the Word of the Lord nothing else is signified by "affliction." As in Isaiah:
I will purge thee, and not with silver; I will choose thee in the furnace of affliction (Isa. 48:10), "affliction" denoting temptation. In Moses:
Thou shalt remember all the way by which Jehovah thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that He might afflict thee, to tempt thee. Jehovah, who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not, that He might afflict thee, and that He might tempt thee, to do thee good at thy latter end (Deut. 8:2, 16);
to "afflict" manifestly denotes to tempt. [2] In the same:
When the Egyptians did evil unto us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard servitude; and we cried unto Jehovah, the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression (Deut. 26:6-7). Here we find the same things as in the present verse: that they "served" and were "afflicted," by which in like manner are signified the temptations of the faithful, as likewise by their afflictions in the wilderness, by which also there were represented the temptations of the Lord. [3] As in Isaiah:
He was despised, a man of sorrows, and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. But truly He hath borne our diseases, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted (Isa. 53:3-4). By these words are signified the Lord's temptations; by His "bearing our sicknesses, and carrying our sorrows," is not meant that the faithful are to undergo no temptations, nor is it meant that He took their sins upon Himself, and so bore them; but it means that by the combats and victories of temptations He overcame the hells, and in this way would alone, even as to His Human Essence, endure the temptations of the faithful. [4] Temptations are also called by the Lord "afflictions;" as in Mark:
They that are sown upon stony places, when they have heard the Word have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; afterwards, when affliction and persecution arise because of the Word, straightway they are offended (Mark 4:16-17). "Affliction" here manifestly denotes temptation; to "have no root in themselves" is to have no charity, for in this is faith rooted, and they who have not the support of this root yield in temptations. In John:
In the world ye have affliction; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33). "Affliction" here denotes temptation. [5] In Matthew:
Nation shall be stirred up against nation and kingdom against kingdom; all these things are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up unto affliction. Then shall be great affliction, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world. Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened (Matt. 24:7-9, 21, 29). Here the consummation of the age, or the last times of the church, are treated of; "affliction" denotes temptations, both external and internal, the external being persecutions from the world, and the internal being persecutions from the devil. That there will be no charity, is signified by "nation being stirred against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;" also by "the sun," that is, the Lord and love and charity, being "darkened."
Elliott(1983-1999) 1846
1846. 'And these will afflict them' means their grievous temptations. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'afflicting' or affliction as persecution and therefore as temptation. In the Word of the Lord nothing else is meant by 'affliction', as in Isaiah,
I will refine you, but not with silver; I will single you out in the furnace of affliction. Isa 48:10.
'Affliction' stands for temptation. In Moses,
You shall remember all the way in which Jehovah your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness to afflict you and to tempt you. Jehovah fed you with manna in the wilderness, which your fathers did not know, to afflict you and to tempt you, to do good to you in [your] latter end. Deut 8:2, 16.
'To afflict' plainly means to tempt.
[2] In the same author,
And the Egyptians ill-treated us and afflicted us, and imposed hard service upon us, and we cried out to Jehovah the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression. Deut 26:6, 7.
Here the same things are mentioned as in the present verse, that they served as slaves and were afflicted, by which - as also by their afflictions in the wilderness, which in addition represented the Lord's temptations - the temptations of believers were meant.
[3] As in Isaiah,
He was despised, a man of sorrows, on account of which as it were men hid their faces from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our sicknesses and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Isa 53:3, 4.
These words mean the Lord's temptations. The words 'He has borne our sicknesses and carried our sorrows' are not used to mean that believers will not undergo any temptation, nor that He transferred their sins on to Himself and so bore them Himself. Rather, they mean that He who overcame the hells through the conflicts brought about by temptations and through victories would in the same manner - all by Himself, even as to His Human Essence - endure the temptations experienced by believers.
[4] The Lord too calls temptations afflictions: in Mark,
These are the ones sown upon rocky ground. When they have heard the word they have no root in themselves but endure for a while. Then, when affliction and persecution arise because of the word they immediately stumble. Mark 4:16, 17.
'Affliction' clearly stands for temptation. 'Having no root in themselves' is having no charity, for it is in charity that faith is rooted, and those who are not endowed with that root give way in temptations. In John,
In the world you have affliction; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33.
'Affliction' stands for temptation.
[5] In Matthew,
Nation will be roused against nation and kingdom against kingdom. All these are the start of sorrows. At that time they will deliver you up to affliction. There will be great affliction then such as has not been from the beginning of the world. Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened. Matt 24:7-9, 21, 29.
This refers to the close of the age, or last times of a Church. 'Affliction' stands for temptations, external and internal, external temptations being persecutions by the world, internal by the devil. The non-existence of charity is meant by 'nation against nation' and 'kingdom against kingdom', and by 'the sun'- that is, the Lord, love and charity- being 'darkened'.
Latin(1748-1756) 1846
1846. 'Et affligent illos': quod significet tentationes illorum graves, constare potest a significatione 'affligere seu afflictionis' quod sit persecutio, proinde quod sit tentatio; in Verbo Domini nihil aliud per afflictionem significatur, ut apud Esaiam, Purgabo te, et non argento, seligam te in catino afflictionis, xlviii 10;'afflictio' pro tentatione: apud Mosen, Recordaberis omnis viae, qua duxit te Jehovah Deus tuus his quadraginta annis in deserto, propterea ad affligendum te et ad tentandum te.... Jehovah cibans te manna in deserto, quam non noverunt patres tui, propterea ad affligendum te, et propterea ad tentandum te, ad benefaciendum tibi in postremo, Deut. viii 2, 16;
[2] 'affligere' manifeste pro tentare: apud eundem, Cum malefecerunt nobis Aegyptii, et afflixerunt nos, dederunt super nos servitutem duram; et clamavimus ad Jehovam Deum patrum nostrorum, et exaudivit Jehovah' vocem nostrem, et vidit afflictionem nostram, et laborem nostrum, et oppressionem nostram, Deut. xxvi 6, 7;
hic eadem quae in hoc versu, quod servirent et affligerentur, per quae significatae similiter tentationes fidelium, sicut etiam per afflictio eorum in deserto per quas quoque repraesentatae Domini tentationes, [3] ut apud Esaiam, Contemptus,... vir dolorum,... unde quasi occultatio facierum ab Ipso; contemptus, et non reputavimus illum; verumtamen morbos nostros Ipse tulit, et dolores nostros portavit nos vero reputavimus Ipsum plagatum, percussum Dei, afflictum, liii 3, 4;
per haec significantur tentationes Domini; quod 'morbos nostros tulerit, et dolores nostros portaverit,' non intelligitur quod fide nullam tentationem subituri, nec quod peccata in se derivaverit et sustulerit; sed quod per tentationum pugnas et victorias vicerit inferna et sic solus, etiam quoad Humanam Essentiam, sustineret tentationes apud fideles. [4] A Domino etiam tentationes vocantur afflictiones; apud Marcum, Qui super petrosa seminantur, quando audiverint sermonem,... non habent radicem in seipsis, verum temporarii sunt; postea quando afflictio et persecutio oritur propter sermone statim scandalizantur, iv 16, 17;
'afflictio' manifeste pro tentatione: 'non radicem habere in seipsis' est non charitatem, in hac enim radicatur fides, qua radice qui in gaudent, in tentationibus succumbunt: apud Johannem, In mundo afflictionem habetis; sed confidite, Ego vici mundum, xvi 33;
'afflictio' pro tentatione: [5] apud Matthaeum, Excitabitur gens contra gentem, et regnum contra regnum,... omnia haec initium dolorum, tunc tradent vos in afflictione.... Erit tunc afflictio magna, qualis non fuit ab initio mundi.... Statim post afflictionem dierum istorum sol obscurabitur, xxiv 7-9, 21, 29;
ubi de consummatione saeculi seu ultimis temporibus Ecclesiae; 'afflictio' pro tentationibus externis et internis; externae sunt persecutiones a mundo, internae a diabolo; nulla charitas significat per quod 'gens contra gentem, regnum contra regnum,' et per quod 'sol,' hoc est, Dominus, amor et charitas, 'obscurabitur.'