Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Exodus 5:8

in Exodus 5

But require of them the same quota of bricks as before; do not reduce it. For they are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the number of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish aught thereof: for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.

KJV

And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.

⋯

This verse in Exodus 5

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore

on Exodus 5:8-9

Tale here means the count, so the quota stands while the material is withdrawn. Pharaoh gives his reason twice, that they be idle, and he calls the message brought to him vain words. A request to be released for the service of God is answered by increasing the service owed to Pharaoh, and the Hebrew root behind both kinds of service is the same one.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, you shall lay upon them,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

His suggestions were very unreasonable. (1.) That the people were idle, and that therefore they talked of going to sacrifice. The cities they built for Pharaoh, and the other fruit of their labours, were witnesses for them that they were not idle; yet he thus basely misrepresents them, that he might have a pretence to increase their burdens.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

tale--an appointed number of bricks. The materials of their labor were to be no longer supplied, and yet, as the same amount of produce was exacted daily, it is impossible to imagine more aggravated cruelty--a perfect specimen of Oriental despotism.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

And the tale of the bricks - Tale signifies the number, from the Anglo-Saxon to number, to count, etc. For they be idle; therefore they cry - Let us go and sacrifice - Thus their desire to worship the true God in a proper manner was attributed to their unwillingness to work; a reflection which the Egyptians (in principle) of the present day cast on these who, while they are fervent in spirit serving the Lord, are not slothful in business. See Clarke below Exo 5:17 (note).

The words behind it

24 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.

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • מַתְכֹּ֨נֶת[the] measurement of

    matkonetH4971 →5 times

  • הַלְּבֵנִ֜יםthe bricks

    halevenimH3843 →12 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • הֵם֩they

    hemH1992 →553 times

  • עֹשִׂ֨ים[were] making

    ʾosimH6213 →2628 times

  • תְּמ֤וֹלyesterday

    temolH8543 →23 times

  • שִׁלְשֹׁם֙three days ago

    shilshomH8032 →24 times

  • תָּשִׂ֣ימוּyou will place

    tasimuH7760 →584 times

  • עֲלֵיהֶ֔םon them

    ʾaleihemH5921 →5755 times

  • לֹ֥אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תִגְרְע֖וּyou will diminish

    tigreuH1639 →22 times

  • מִמֶּ֑נּוּfrom it

    mimenuH4480 →1188 times

  • כִּֽי־for

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • נִרְפִּ֣ים[are] idle

    nirpimH7503 →46 times

  • הֵ֔םthey

    hemH1992 →553 times

  • עַל־there-

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • כֵּ֗ן-fore

    kenH3651 →771 times

  • הֵ֤םthey

    hemH1992 →553 times

  • צֹֽעֲקִים֙[are] crying out

    tzoakimH6817 →55 times

  • לֵאמֹ֔ר<to> saying

    lemorH559 →5305 times

  • נֵלְכָ֖הlet us go

    nelekhahH1980 →1546 times

  • נִזְבְּחָ֥הlet us sacrifice

    nizbechahH2076 →134 times

  • לֵאלֹהֵֽינוּ׃to God our

    leloheinuH430 →2601 times

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

Related verses

3 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

    Psalms 106:41

    He delivered them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them.

    it leads to

    • Judges 2:14

      Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they…

    • Nehemiah 9:27–38

      So You delivered them into the hands of enemies who oppressed them, and in their time of distress they cried out to You. From heaven You heard them, and in Your great compassion You…

    • Judges 4:1–2

      After Ehud died, the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the LORD.

    • Judges 3:12

      Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.

    • Judges 3:8

      Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years.

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 →