EXO 5

Exodus 5:13

WEB

The taskmasters were urgent saying, “Fulfill your work quota daily, as when there was straw!”

BSB

The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Fulfill your quota each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”

KJV

And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.

Matthew Henry

Verses 10–14

Exodus 5:10–14

Pharaoh's orders are here put in execution; straw is denied, and yet the work not diminished. 1. The Egyptian task-masters were very severe. Pharaoh having decreed unrighteous decrees, the task-masters were ready to write the grievousness that he had prescribed, Isa 10:1. Cruel princes will never want cruel instruments to be employed under them, who will justify them in that which is most unreasonable. These task-masters insisted upon the daily tasks, as when there was straw, Exo 5:13. See what need we have to pray that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, Th2 3:2. The enmity of the serpent's seed against the seed of the woman is such as breaks through all the laws of reason, honour, humanity, and common justice. 2. The people hereby were dispersed throughout all the land of Egypt, to gather stubble, Exo 5:12. By this means Pharaoh's unjust and barbarous usage of them came to be known to all the kingdom, and perhaps caused them to be pitied by their neighbours, and made Pharaoh's government less acceptable even to his own subjects: good-will is never got by persecution. 3. The Israelite-officers were used with particular harshness, Exo 5:14. Those that were the fathers of the houses of Israel paid dearly for their honour; for from them immediately the service was exacted, and they were beaten when it was not performed. See here, (1.) What a miserable thing slavery is, and what reason we have to be thankful to God that we are a free people, and not oppressed. Liberty and property are valuable jewels in the eyes of those whose services and possessions lie at the mercy of an arbitrary power. (2.) What disappointments we often meet with after the raising of our expectations. The Israelites were now lately encouraged to hope for enlargement, but behold greater distresses. This teaches us always to rejoice with trembling. (3.) What strange steps God sometimes takes in delivering his people; he often brings them to the utmost straits when he is just ready to appear for them. The lowest ebbs go before the highest tides; and very cloudy mornings commonly introduce the fairest days, Deu 32:36. God's time to help is when things are at the worst; and Providence verifies the paradox, The worse the better.

Cross-references: Isa 10:1 · Exod 5:13 · 2Thess 3:2 · Exod 5:12 · Exod 5:14 · Deut 32:36

Hebrew interlinear

H5065

נָגַשׂnâgas/naw-gas'/

v — drive, tax, harass, tyrannize

Derivation: a primitive root;

to drive (an animal, a workman, a debtor, an army); by implication, to tax, harass, tyrannize

KJV: distress, driver, exact(-or), oppress(-or), × raiser of taxes, taskmaster.

נָגַשׂ

vb — press

[נָגַשׂ] vb. press, drive, oppress, exact

Qal

1. press, drive to work

2. exact

3. Pt. (= subst.) driver, taskmaster

Niph. hard pressed by enemy; treated harshly of suffering servant of י׳; recipr. tyrannize over each other

H213

אוּץʼûwts/oots/

v — press, be close, hurry, withdraw

Derivation: a primitive root;

to press; (by implication) to be close, hurry, withdraw

KJV: (make) haste(-n, -y), labor, be narrow.

אוּץ

vb — press

[אוּץ] vb. press, be pressed, make haste

Qal

1. press, hasten

2. (intr.) be pressed, confined, narrow

3. hasten, make haste

Hiph. hasten

H559

אָמַרʼâmar/aw-mar'/

v — say

Derivation: a primitive root;

to say (used with great latitude)

KJV: answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, (at the, give) command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, × desire, determine, × expressly, × indeed, × intend, name, × plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), × still, × suppose, talk, tell, term, × that is, × think, use (speech), utter, × verily, × yet.

אָמַר

vb — utter

אָמַר 5287 vb. utter, say

Qal

1. Say

2. Say in the heart (= think)

3. Promise

4. Command (esp. late)

Niph. be said, told

Hiph. avow, avouch (lit. cause to declare)

Hithp. act proudly, boast

H3615

כָּלָהkâlâh/kaw-law'/

v — end, cease, be finished, perish, complete, prepare, consume

Derivation: a primitive root;

to end, whether intransitive (to cease, be finished, perish) or transitive (to complete, prepare, consume)

KJV: accomplish, cease, consume (away), determine, destroy (utterly), be (when... were) done, (be an) end (of), expire, (cause to) fail, faint, finish, fulfil, × fully, × have, leave (off), long, bring to pass, wholly reap, make clean riddance, spend, quite take away, waste.

כָּלָה

vb — be complete

כָּלָה 204 vb. be complete, at an end, finished, accomplished, spent

Qal

1.

a. be complete, at an end, of a period of time

b. be completed, finished, of a work

c. be accomplished, fulfilled

d. be idealy complete, be determined, always in a bad sense, plotted

2.

a. be spent, used up (prop. come to an end), of water

b. waste away, be exhausted, fail

c. come to an end, vanish = perish, be destroyed

Pi.

1.

a. complete, bring to an end, finish, a thing, task, work, etc.

b. complete a period of time

c. finish doing a thing

d. make an end, end

e. accomplish, fulfil, bring to pass

f. accomplish in thought, determine

2.

a. put an end to, cause to cease

b. cause to fail, exhaust, use up, spend

c. destroy, sts. exterminate

H4639

מַעֲשֶׂהmaʻăseh/mah-as-eh'/

n-m — action, transaction, activity, product, poem, property

Derivation: from 6213;

an action (good or bad); generally, a transaction; abstractly, activity; by implication, a product (specifically, a poem) or (generally) property

KJV: act, art, bakemeat, business, deed, do(-ing), labor, thing made, ware of making, occupation, thing offered, operation, possession, × well, (handy-, needle-, net-) work(ing, -manship), wrought.

מַעֲשֶׂה

n.m — deed

מַעֲשֶׂה 233 n.m. deed, work

H1697

דָּבָרdâbâr/daw-baw'/

n-m — word, matter, spoken, thing, cause

Derivation: from 1696;

a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause

KJV: act, advice, affair, answer, × any such (thing), because of, book, business, care, case, cause, certain rate, chronicles, commandment, × commune(-ication), concern(-ing), confer, counsel, dearth, decree, deed, × disease, due, duty, effect, eloquent, errand, (evil favoured-) ness, glory, harm, hurt, iniquity, judgment, language, lying, manner, matter, message, (no) thing, oracle, × ought, × parts, pertaining, please, portion, power, promise, provision, purpose, question, rate, reason, report, request, × (as hast) said, sake, saying, sentence, sign, so, some (uncleanness), somewhat to say, song, speech, × spoken, talk, task, that, × there done, thing (concerning), thought, thus, tidings, what(-soever), wherewith, which, word, work.

דָּבָר

n.m — speech

דָּבָר 1439 n.m. speech, word

I. sg. speech, discourse, saying, word, as the sum of that which is spoken

II. sg. saying, utterance, sentence, as a section of a discourse

III. sg. a word, words

IV. sg. matter, affair, thing about which one speaks

H3117

יוֹםyôwm/yome/

n-m — day

Derivation: from an unused root meaning to be hot;

a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)

KJV: age, always, chronicals, continually(-ance), daily, ((birth-), each, to) day, (now a, two) days (agone), elder, × end, evening, (for) ever(-lasting, -more), × full, life, as (so) long as (... live), (even) now, old, outlived, perpetually, presently, remaineth, × required, season, × since, space, then, (process of) time, as at other times, in trouble, weather, (as) when, (a, the, within a) while (that), × whole ( age), (full) year(-ly), younger.

יוֹם

n.m — day

יוֹם 2285 n.m. day

1. day, opp. night

2. Day as division of time

3. יוֹם י׳ day of Yahweh, chiefly as time of his coming in judgment, involving often blessedness for righteous

4. Pl. days of anyone

5. Days

6. יוֹם = time

7. Phrases

H834

אֲשֶׁרʼăsher/ash-er'/

r — who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

Derivation: a primitive relative pronoun (of every gender and number);

who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.

KJV: × after, × alike, as (soon as), because, × every, for, + forasmuch, + from whence, + how(-soever), × if, (so) that ((thing) which, wherein), × though, + until, + whatsoever, when, where (+ -as, -in, -of, -on, -soever, -with), which, whilst, + whither(-soever), who(-m, -soever, -se). As it is indeclinable, it is often accompanied by the personal pronoun expletively, used to show the connection.

אֲשֶׁר

part. of relation — who

אֲשֶׁר part. of relation A sign of relation, bringing the clause introduced by it into relation with an antecedent clause.

בַאֲשֶׁר

adv — in which

בַאֲשֶׁר

a. in (that) which

b. adv. in (the place) where

c. conj. in that, inasmuch as

d. on account of whom?

כַּאֲשֶׁר

conj — according as

כַּאֲשֶׁר conj. according as, as, when

1. according to that which, according as, as

2. with a causal force, in so far as, since

3. with a temporal force, when

מֵאֲשֶׁר

adv — who

מֵאֲשֶׁר

a. from (or than) that which

b. adv. from (the place) where

c. conj. from (the fact) that …, since

H1961

הָיָהhâyâh/haw-yaw/

v — exist, be, become, come to pass

Derivation: a primitive root (compare 1933);

to exist, i.e. be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary)

KJV: beacon, × altogether, be(-come), accomplished, committed, like), break, cause, come (to pass), do, faint, fall, follow, happen, × have, last, pertain, quit (one-) self, require, × use.

הָיָה

vb — fall out

הָיָה 3570 vb. fall out, come to pass, become, be

Qal

I.

1.

a. Fall out, happen

b. occur, take place, come about, come to pass

2. esp. & very oft., come about, come to pass

a.

(1). וַיְהִי and it came to pass that, most often (c. 292 t.)

(2). rarely also Pf. c. וְ conj. וְהָיָה

b. less oft. וְהָיָה Pf. consec. and it shall come to pass, or frequentat. came to pass (repeatedly, etc.)

II. Come into being, become

1.

a. abs., in lively narrative, arise, appear, come

b. sq. prep.

2. become

a. sq. pred. noun (to be viewed as implicit accus.)

b. sq. pred. adj.

c. become like

d. sq. pred. לְ pers.

e. sq. לְ pred.

f. oft. c. לְ pred. לְ pers.

g. with עַל and לְ

h. sts. c. לְ pers. only = became the property of, come into the possession of

III. Be (often with subbordinate idea of becoming)

1. exist, be in existence

2. abide, remain, continue

3. with word of locality, be in or at a place, be situated, stand, lie

4. as copula, joining subj. & pred.

5. periphrastic conjug.

Niph.

1. either be done, be brought about, or occur, come to pass

2. be done, finished, gone

H8401

תֶּבֶןteben/teh'-ben/

n-m — material, refuse haum, stalks of grain

Derivation: probably from 1129;

properly, material, i.e. (specifically) refuse haum or stalks of grain (as chopped in threshing and used for fodder)

KJV: chaff, straw, stubble.

תֶּ֫בֶן

n.m — straw

תֶּ֫בֶן n.m. straw (√ unknown)

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