Exodus 5:16
in Exodus 5No straw has been given to your servants, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Exodus 5
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThe fault is in thine own people - חטאת chatath, the sin, is in thy own people. 1st. Because they require impossibilities; and 2dly, because they punish us for not doing what cannot be performed.
This site's exposition
came and cried unto Pharaoh
on Exodus 5:15-16
Israel cried at 2:23 and the cry came up unto God, who heard and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Here the officers cry to the man who signed the order they are appealing against, and they leave with nothing. They tell him that the fault is in thine own people, which is as near an accusation as a slave may carry to a king.
This site's exposition
the fault is with your own people
The foremen lay the injustice before Pharaoh: no straw is given, the same bricks are demanded, and they are beaten for the shortfall. They place the blame on Pharaoh's own taskmasters. Adam Clarke notes that the Hebrew word here is the ordinary word for sin, so the foremen charge Egypt's officials with wrongdoing.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): Thy servants are beaten (severely enough, no doubt, when things were in such a ferment), and yet the fault is in thy own people, the task-masters, who deny us what is necessary for carrying on our work.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
There is no straw given unto thy servants,....
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תֶּ֗בֶן | teven | straw | H8401 → | 17 times |
| אֵ֤ין | ʾein | not | H369 → | 789 times |
| נִתָּן֙ | nitan | [is being] given | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לַעֲבָדֶ֔יךָ | laavadeikha | to servants your | H5650 → | 799 times |
| וּלְבֵנִ֛ים | ulevenim | and bricks | H3843 → | 12 times |
| אֹמְרִ֥ים | ʾomerim | [people are] saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לָ֖נוּ | lanu | to <the> us | ||
| עֲשׂ֑וּ | ʾasu | make | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| וְהִנֵּ֧ה | vehineh | and there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| עֲבָדֶ֛יךָ | ʾavadeikha | servants your | H5650 → | 799 times |
| מֻכִּ֖ים | mukim | [are] being struck | H5221 → | 499 times |
| וְחָטָ֥את | vechatat | and you have sinned | H2398 → | 238 times |
| עַמֶּֽךָ׃ | ʾamekha | people your | H5971 → | 1873 times |
תֶּ֗בֶןstraw
tevenH8401 →17 times
אֵ֤יןnot
ʾeinH369 →789 times
נִתָּן֙[is being] given
nitanH5414 →2011 times
לַעֲבָדֶ֔יךָto servants your
laavadeikhaH5650 →799 times
וּלְבֵנִ֛יםand bricks
ulevenimH3843 →12 times
אֹמְרִ֥ים[people are] saying
ʾomerimH559 →5305 times
לָ֖נוּto <the> us
lanu
עֲשׂ֑וּmake
ʾasuH6213 →2628 times
וְהִנֵּ֧הand there!
vehinehH2009 →843 times
עֲבָדֶ֛יךָservants your
ʾavadeikhaH5650 →799 times
מֻכִּ֖ים[are] being struck
mukimH5221 →499 times
וְחָטָ֥אתand you have sinned
vechatatH2398 →238 times
עַמֶּֽךָ׃people your
ʾamekhaH5971 →1873 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.