TSK · 2 Chronicles 10:11

The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve,

Go therefore now, and work, for no straw shall be given to you, yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks!"

I was angry with my people, I profaned my inheritance, and gave them into your hand: you showed them no mercy; on the aged you have very heavily laid your yoke.

Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus says Yahweh: You have broken the bars of wood; but you have made in their place bars of iron.

Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you.

They were given power not to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a person.