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Exodus 1:13

in Exodus 1

They worked the Israelites ruthlessly

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor:

KJV

And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:

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This verse in Exodus 1

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour. Or with breach (c), with what might tend to break their strength; they laid heavier burdens upon them, obliged them to harder service, used them more cruelly and with greater fierceness, adding to their hard service ill words, and perhaps blows. (c) בפרך "in fractione", Cajetan. apud Rivet.

This site's exposition

They worked the Israelites ruthlessly

on Exodus 1:13-14

The Hebrew root abad stands five times in these two verses, one root for forced labour and for worship alike. It carries every demand for release, at 4:23, 7:16, 8:1, 8:20, 9:1, 9:13 and 10:3, and the passover is "this service" at 12:25. Israel keeps serving, and the master changes.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

And it is to be feared that the oppression they were under had this bad effect upon them, that it brought over many of them to join with the Egyptians in their idolatrous worship; for we read ( Josh. xxiv. 14 ) that they served other gods in Egypt; and, though it is not mentioned here in this history, yet we find ( Ezek. xx.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

To serve with rigour - בפרך bepharech, with cruelty, great oppression; being ferocious with them. The word fierce is supposed by some to be derived from the Hebrew, as well as the Latin ferox, from which we more immediately bring our English term. This kind of cruelty to slaves, and ferociousness, unfeelingness, and hard-heartedness, were particularly forbidden to the children of Israel. See Lev 25:43, Lev 25:46, where the same word is used: Thou shalt not rule over him with Rigor, but shalt fear thy God.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Pharaoh devised many evils with which to afflict the Israelites. First he ordered them to do his work.
Ibn Ezra: Spain, 1089–1167 · Ibn Ezra on Exodus 1:13:1, via Sefaria, Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch, tran. and annot. by H. Norman Strickman and Arthur M. Silver. Menorah Pub., 1988-2004
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Even though they were afflicted. 118 The Hebrew literally reads, and as they (ve-kha’asher) afflicted them. I.E.
Ibn Ezra: Spain, 1089–1167 · Ibn Ezra on Exodus 1:12:1, via Sefaria, Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch, tran. and annot. by H. Norman Strickman and Arthur M. Silver. Menorah Pub., 1988-2004

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

6 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיַּעֲבִ֧דוּand they compelled to labor

    vaiyaaviduH5647 →288 times

  • מִצְרַ֛יִםEgypt

    mitzrayimH4713 →70 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • בְּנֵ֥י[the] people of

    beneiH1121 →4930 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • בְּפָֽרֶךְ׃with harshness

    befarekhH6531 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

2 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 4:20

    Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 8:51

      For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the furnace for iron.

    • Jeremiah 11:4

      which I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey Me, and do everything I command you, and you will be My…

    • Deuteronomy 9:29

      But they are Your people, Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and outstretched arm.”

    • Exodus 19:5–6

      Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.

    • Deuteronomy 32:9

      But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.

Where this verse is studied

About Exodus

The Israelites Leaving Egypt, David Roberts, 1829. Public domain.
The Israelites Leaving Egypt, David Roberts, 1829. Public domain.
Exodus: the study guide →Read Exodus 1 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Exodus 1 →