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Exodus 5:14

in Exodus 5

Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task both yesterday and to-day, in making brick as heretofore?

KJV

And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore?

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This verse in Exodus 5

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

And the officers - were beaten - Probably bastinadoed; for this is the common punishment in Egypt to the present day for minor offenses. The manner of it is this: the culprit lies on his belly, his legs being turned up behind erect, and the executioner gives him so many blows on the soles of the feet with a stick. This is a very severe punishment, the sufferer not being able to walk for many weeks after, and some are lamed by it through the whole of their lives.

This site's exposition

which Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them

The blows land on the Israelite officers rather than on the Egyptians who issued the order. Adam Clarke describes the punishment as the bastinado, laid on the soles of the feet, which was the ordinary Egyptian penalty for a minor offence and left a man unable to walk for weeks. A tomb painting found at Thebes shows brickmakers working under overseers with sticks, which is the scene these verses describe.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

16 There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people. 17 But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the L ORD .

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:96%@v16-17

And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

"The mode of beating was by the offender being laid flat on the ground and generally held by the hands and feet while the chastisement was administered" [WILKINSON]. A picture representing the Hebrews on a brick field, exactly as described in this chapter, was found in an Egyptian tomb at Thebes.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

Atzim (urgent) is a transitive verb. 84 It means urging; i.e., the taskmasters were urging them on.
Ibn Ezra: Spain, 1089–1167 · Ibn Ezra on Exodus 5:13:1, via Sefaria, Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch, tran. and annot. by H. Norman Strickman and Arthur M. Silver. Menorah Pub., 1988-2004

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

21 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.

  • וַיֻּכּ֗וּand they were struck

    vaiyukuH5221 →499 times

  • שֹֽׁטְרֵי֙[the] foremen of

    shotereiH7860 →25 times

  • בְּנֵ֣י[the] people of

    beneiH1121 →4930 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־whom

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • שָׂ֣מוּthey had appointed

    samuH7760 →584 times

  • עֲלֵהֶ֔םover them

    ʾalehemH5921 →5755 times

  • נֹגְשֵׂ֥י[the] taskmasters of

    nogeseiH5065 →23 times

  • פַרְעֹ֖הPharaoh

    farohH6547 →274 times

  • לֵאמֹ֑ר<to> saying

    lemorH559 →5305 times

  • מַדּ֡וּעַwhy?

    madua'H4069 →72 times

  • לֹא֩not

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • כִלִּיתֶ֨םhave you completed

    khilitemH3615 →208 times

  • חָקְכֶ֤םprescribed portion your

    chakechemH2706 →127 times

  • לִלְבֹּן֙by making bricks

    lilbonH3835 →

  • כִּתְמ֣וֹלas yesterday

    kitmolH8543 →23 times

  • שִׁלְשֹׁ֔םthree days ago

    shilshomH8032 →24 times

  • גַּם־neither

    gam-H1571 →769 times

  • תְּמ֖וֹלyesterday

    temolH8543 →23 times

  • גַּם־nor

    gam-H1571 →769 times

  • הַיּֽוֹם׃this day

    haiyomH3117 →2304 times

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

Related verses

5 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Isaiah 10:24Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “O My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, who strikes you with a rod and lifts his staff against you as the Egyptians did.2 worksLeviticus 25:43You are not to rule over them harshly, but you shall fear your God.2 worksNumbers 20:15how our fathers went down to Egypt, where we lived many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers,2 worksExodus 2:11One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.1 worksIsaiah 3:15Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.1 works

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

    Isaiah 10:24

    Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “O My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, who strikes you with a rod and lifts his staff against you as…

    it leads to

    • Hebrews 12:22–24

      Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels

    • Isaiah 61:3

      to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be…

    • Isaiah 37:6

      who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.

    • Isaiah 37:33–35

      So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow into it. He will not come before it with a shield or…

    • Psalms 87:5–6

      And it will be said of Zion: “This one and that one were born in her, and the Most High Himself will establish her.”

About Exodus

The Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Exodus: the study guide →Read Exodus 5 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Exodus 5 →