Exodus 5:13
in Exodus 5The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Fulfill your quota each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the taskmasters were urgent saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.
KJV
And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.
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This verse in Exodus 5
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
So the people scattered all over the land of Egypt
on Exodus 5:12-13
A nation settled together in Goshen is spread through all the land of Egypt hunting stubble. Albert Barnes places the search after the barley and wheat harvest, in the weeks when the hot wind blows. The taskmasters hold the daily tasks at the rate set when straw was still delivered.
This site's exposition
Fulfill your quota each day
The taskmasters press for the daily quota as though straw were still supplied. The demand cannot be met, and it leads to the beating of the Israelite foremen in the next verse. Adam Clarke, on verse 14, describes the Egyptian punishment of blows to the soles of the feet.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And the taskmasters hasted them, Kept them tight and close to their work, and were urgent on them to make quick dispatch of it: saying, fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw; they insisted upon it, that they did the same business at the brickkilns, made the same number of bricks every day, as they used to do when they had straw at hand. See Exo 5:11.
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.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Atzim (urgent) is a transitive verb. 84 It means urging; i.e., the taskmasters were urging them on.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Va-yafetz (were scattered) is a transitive verb. 80 In the hifil, meaning he scattered. Pharaoh, who caused them to scatter, is the subject.
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
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהַנֹּגְשִׂ֖ים | vehanogesim | and the taskmasters | H5065 → | 23 times |
| אָצִ֣ים | ʾatzim | [were] pressing [them] | H213 → | |
| לֵאמֹ֑ר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| כַּלּ֤וּ | kalu | complete | H3615 → | 208 times |
| מַעֲשֵׂיכֶם֙ | maaseikhem | work<s> your | H4639 → | 236 times |
| דְּבַר־ | devar- | a matter of | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| י֣וֹם | yom | a day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| בְּיוֹמ֔וֹ | beyomo | in day its | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר | kaasher | just as | H834 → | 5497 times |
| בִּהְי֥וֹת | bihyot | when was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| הַתֶּֽבֶן׃ | hateven | the straw | H8401 → | 17 times |
וְהַנֹּגְשִׂ֖יםand the taskmasters
vehanogesimH5065 →23 times
אָצִ֣ים[were] pressing [them]
ʾatzimH213 →
לֵאמֹ֑ר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
כַּלּ֤וּcomplete
kaluH3615 →208 times
מַעֲשֵׂיכֶם֙work<s> your
maaseikhemH4639 →236 times
דְּבַר־a matter of
devar-H1697 →1440 times
י֣וֹםa day
yomH3117 →2304 times
בְּיוֹמ֔וֹin day its
beyomoH3117 →2304 times
כַּאֲשֶׁ֖רjust as
kaasherH834 →5497 times
בִּהְי֥וֹתwhen was
bihyotH1961 →3559 times
הַתֶּֽבֶן׃the straw
hatevenH8401 →17 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.