Exodus 5:18

5:18 So now, get back to work! You will not be given straw, but you must still produce your quota of bricks!”

Exodus 21:27

21:27 If he knocks out the tooth of his male servant or his female servant, he will let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.


tn The text has two imperatives: “go, work.” They may be used together to convey one complex idea (so a use of hendiadys): “go back to work.”

tn The imperfect תִּתֵּנּוּ (tittennu) is here taken as an obligatory imperfect: “you must give” or “you must produce.”

sn B. Jacob is amazed at the wealth of this tyrant’s vocabulary in describing the work of others. Here, תֹכֶן (tokhen) is another word for “quota” of bricks, the fifth word used to describe their duty (Exodus, 137).

tn Heb “him”; the referent (the male or female servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.