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Text -- Exodus 5:1-21 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
Opposition to the Plan of God
5:1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said , “Thus says the Lord , the God of Israel , ‘Release my people so that they may hold a pilgrim feast to me in the desert .’”
5:2 But Pharaoh said , “Who is the Lord that I should obey him by releasing Israel ? I do not know the Lord , and I will not release Israel !”
5:3 And they said , “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go a three-day journey into the desert so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God , so that he does not strike us with plague or the sword .”
5:4 The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron , why do you cause the people to refrain from their work ? Return to your labor !”
5:5 Pharaoh was thinking , “The people of the land are now many , and you are giving them rest from their labor .”
5:6 That same day Pharaoh commanded the slave masters and foremen who were over the people :
5:7 “You must no longer give straw to the people for making bricks as before . Let them go and collect straw for themselves .
5:8 But you must require of them the same quota of bricks that they were making before . Do not reduce it, for they are slackers . That is why they are crying , ‘Let us go sacrifice to our God .’
5:9 Make the work harder for the men so they will keep at it and pay no attention to lying words !”
5:10 So the slave masters of the people and their foremen went to the Israelites and said , “Thus says Pharaoh : ‘I am not giving you straw .
5:11 You go get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it, because there will be no reduction at all in your workload .’”
5:12 So the people spread out through all the land of Egypt to collect stubble for straw .
5:13 The slave masters were pressuring them, saying , “Complete your work for each day , just like when there was straw !”
5:14 The Israelite foremen whom Pharaoh’s slave masters had set over them were beaten and were asked , “Why did you not complete your requirement for brickmaking as in the past – both yesterday and today ?”
5:15 The Israelite foremen went and cried out to Pharaoh , “Why are you treating your servants this way ?
5:16 No straw is given to your servants , but we are told , ‘Make bricks !’ Your servants are even being beaten , but the fault is with your people .”
5:17 But Pharaoh replied , “You are slackers ! Slackers ! That is why you are saying , ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord .’
5:18 So now , get back to work ! You will not be given straw , but you must still produce your quota of bricks !”
5:19 The Israelite foremen saw that they were in trouble when they were told , “You must not reduce the daily quota of your bricks .”
5:20 When they went out from Pharaoh , they encountered Moses and Aaron standing there to meet them,
5:21 and they said to them, “May the Lord look on you and judge , because you have made us stink in the opinion of Pharaoh and his servants , so that you have given them an excuse to kill us!”
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Brick |
Moses |
Rulers |
GENESIS, 1-2 |
Israel |
Egyptians |
Oppression |
Bondage |
Straw |
Cruelty |
Servant |
LIBRARIES |
Petition |
TASKMASTER |
TALE |
Arts and Crafts |
BURDEN |
Aaron |
IDLE; IDLENESS |
God |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Exo 5:1; Exo 5:1; Exo 5:1; Exo 5:1; Exo 5:2; Exo 5:2; Exo 5:2; Exo 5:2; Exo 5:2; Exo 5:2; Exo 5:3; Exo 5:3; Exo 5:3; Exo 5:3; Exo 5:4; Exo 5:5; Exo 5:6; Exo 5:6; Exo 5:6; Exo 5:6; Exo 5:7; Exo 5:7; Exo 5:7; Exo 5:7; Exo 5:8; Exo 5:8; Exo 5:8; Exo 5:9; Exo 5:9; Exo 5:9; Exo 5:9; Exo 5:10; Exo 5:10; Exo 5:11; Exo 5:11; Exo 5:12; Exo 5:13; Exo 5:13; Exo 5:14; Exo 5:14; Exo 5:15; Exo 5:15; Exo 5:16; Exo 5:16; Exo 5:16; Exo 5:17; Exo 5:17; Exo 5:18; Exo 5:18; Exo 5:18; Exo 5:19; Exo 5:19; Exo 5:19; Exo 5:20; Exo 5:21; Exo 5:21; Exo 5:21; Exo 5:21; Exo 5:21
NET Notes: Exo 5:1 The verb חָגַג (khagag) means to hold a feast or to go on a pilgrim feast. The Arabic cognate of the noun form is haj, b...
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NET Notes: Exo 5:2 This absolute statement of Pharaoh is part of a motif that will develop throughout the conflict. For Pharaoh, the Lord (Yahweh) did not exist. So he s...
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NET Notes: Exo 5:3 The last clause of this verse is rather unexpected here: “lest he meet [afflict] us with pestilence or sword.” To fail to comply with the ...
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NET Notes: Exo 5:4 The clause is a rhetorical question. Pharaoh is not asking them why they do this, but rather is accusing them of doing it. He suspects their request i...
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NET Notes: Exo 5:5 Heb “And Pharaoh said.” This is not the kind of thing that Pharaoh is likely to have said to Moses, and so it probably is what he thought ...
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NET Notes: Exo 5:6 In vv. 6-14 the second section of the chapter describes the severe measures by the king to increase the labor by decreasing the material. The emphasis...
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NET Notes: Exo 5:7 The jussive יֵלְכוּ (yelÿkhu) and its following sequential verb would have the force of decree and not ...
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NET Notes: Exo 5:10 The construction uses the negative particle combined with a subject suffix before the participle: אֵינֶנּ...
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NET Notes: Exo 5:11 The tense in this section could be translated as having the nuance of possibility: “wherever you may find it,” or the nuance of potential ...
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NET Notes: Exo 5:13 כַּלּוּ (kallu) is the Piel imperative; the verb means “to finish, complete” in the sense of fil...
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NET Notes: Exo 5:14 The idioms for time here are found also in 3:10 and 5:7-8. This question no doubt represents many accusations shouted at Israelites during the period ...
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NET Notes: Exo 5:15 The imperfect tense should be classified here with the progressive imperfect nuance, because the harsh treatment was a present reality.
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NET Notes: Exo 5:18 B. Jacob is amazed at the wealth of this tyrant’s vocabulary in describing the work of others. Here, תֹכֶן (tokhen...
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NET Notes: Exo 5:19 The clause “when they were told” translates לֵאמֹר (le’mor), which usually simply means “s...
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NET Notes: Exo 5:20 Moses and Aaron would not have made the appeal to Pharaoh that these Hebrew foremen did, but they were concerned to see what might happen, and so they...
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