Exodus 1:14

1:14 They made their lives bitter ¹  by ²  hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service ³  in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous. ⁴ 

Exodus 5:7-18

5:7 “You must no longer ⁵  give straw to the people for making bricks ⁶  as before. ⁷  Let them go ⁸  and collect straw for themselves. 5:8 But you must require ⁹  of them the same quota of bricks that they were making before. ¹⁰  Do not reduce it, for they are slackers. ¹¹  That is why they are crying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to our God.’ 5:9 Make the work harder ¹²  for the men so they will keep at it ¹³  and pay no attention to lying words!” ¹⁴ 

5:10 So the slave masters of the people and their foremen went to the Israelites and said, ¹⁵  “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I am not giving ¹⁶  you straw. 5:11 You ¹⁷  go get straw for yourselves wherever you can ¹⁸  find it, because there will be no reduction at all in your workload.’” 5:12 So the people spread out ¹⁹  through all the land of Egypt to collect stubble for straw. 5:13 The slave masters were pressuring ²⁰  them, saying, “Complete ²¹  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, ²²  “Why did you not complete your requirement for brickmaking as in the past – both yesterday and today?” ²³ 

5:15 ²⁴ The Israelite foremen went and cried out to Pharaoh, “Why are you treating ²⁵  your servants this way? 5:16 No straw is given to your servants, but we are told, ²⁶  ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are even ²⁷  being beaten, but the fault ²⁸  is with your people.”

5:17 But Pharaoh replied, ²⁹  “You are slackers! Slackers! ³⁰  That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.’ 5:18 So now, get back to work! ³¹  You will not be given straw, but you must still produce ³²  your quota ³³  of bricks!”

Exodus 5:2

5:2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord ³⁴  that ³⁵  I should obey him ³⁶  by releasing ³⁷  Israel? I do not know the Lord, ³⁸  and I will not release Israel!”

Exodus 12:31

12:31 Pharaoh ³⁹  summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Get up, get out ⁴⁰  from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested! ⁴¹ 

Isaiah 9:10

9:10 “The bricks have fallen,

but we will rebuild with chiseled stone;

the sycamore fig trees have been cut down,

but we will replace them with cedars.” ⁴² 

Isaiah 65:3

65:3 These people continually and blatantly offend me ⁴³ 

as they sacrifice in their sacred orchards ⁴⁴ 

and burn incense on brick altars. ⁴⁵ 

Nahum 3:14

3:14 Draw yourselves water for a siege! ⁴⁶ 

Strengthen your fortifications!

Trample the mud ⁴⁷  and tread the clay!

Make mud bricks to strengthen your walls! ⁴⁸ 

[1:14]  ¹ sn The verb מָרַר (marar) anticipates the introduction of the theme of bitterness in the instructions for the Passover.

[1:14]  ² tn The preposition bet (ב) in this verse has the instrumental use: “by means of” (see GKC 380 §119.o).

[1:14]  ³ tn Heb “and in all service.”

[1:14]  ⁴ tn The line could be more literally translated, “All their service in which they served them [was] with rigor.” This takes the referent of בָּהֶם (bahem) to be the Egyptians. The pronoun may also resume the reference to the kinds of service and so not be needed in English: “All their service in which they served [was] with rigor.”

[5:7]  ⁵ tn The construction is a verbal hendiadys: לֹא תֹאסִפוּן לָתֵת (lo’ to’sifun latet, “you must not add to give”). The imperfect tense acts adverbially, and the infinitive becomes the main verb of the clause: “you must no longer give.”

[5:7]  ⁶ tn The expression “for making bricks” is made of the infinitive construct followed by its cognate accusative: לִלְבֹּן הַלְּבֵנִים (lilbon hallÿvenim).

[5:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “as yesterday and three days ago” or “as yesterday and before that.” This is idiomatic for “as previously” or “as in the past.”

[5:7]  ⁸ tn The jussive יֵלְכוּ (yelÿkhu) and its following sequential verb would have the force of decree and not permission or advice. He is telling them to go and find straw or stubble for the bricks.

[5:8]  ⁹ tn The verb is the Qal imperfect of שִׂים (sim, “place, put”). The form could be an imperfect of instruction: “You will place upon them the quota.” Or, as here, it may be an obligatory imperfect: “You must place.”

[5:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “yesterday and three days ago” or “yesterday and before that” is idiomatic for “previously” or “in the past.”

[5:8]  ¹¹ tn Or “loafers.” The form נִרְפִּים (nirpim) is derived from the verb רָפָה (rafah), meaning “to be weak, to let oneself go.” They had been letting the work go, Pharaoh reasoned, and being idle is why they had time to think about going to worship.

[5:9]  ¹² tn Heb “let the work be heavy.”

[5:9]  ¹³ tn The text has וְיַעֲשׂוּ־בָהּ (vÿya’asu-vah, “and let them work in it”) or the like. The jussive forms part of the king’s decree that the men not only be required to work harder but be doing it: “Let them be occupied in it.”

[5:9]  ¹⁴ sn The words of Moses are here called “lying words” (דִבְרֵי־שָׁקֶר, divre-shaqer). Here is the main reason, then, for Pharaoh’s new policy. He wanted to discredit Moses. So the words that Moses spoke Pharaoh calls false and lying words. The world was saying that God’s words were vain and deceptive because they were calling people to a higher order. In a short time God would reveal that they were true words.

[5:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “went out and spoke to the people saying.” Here “the people” has been specified as “the Israelites” for clarity.

[5:10]  ¹⁶ tn The construction uses the negative particle combined with a subject suffix before the participle: אֵינֶנִּי נֹתֵן (’enenni noten, “there is not I – giving”).

[5:11]  ¹⁷ tn The independent personal pronoun emphasizes that the people were to get their own straw, and it heightens the contrast with the king. “You – go get.”

[5:11]  ¹⁸ tn The tense in this section could be translated as having the nuance of possibility: “wherever you may find it,” or the nuance of potential imperfect: “wherever you are able to find any.”

[5:12]  ¹⁹ tn The verb וַיָּפֶץ (vayyafets) is from the hollow root פּוּץ (puts) and means “scatter, spread abroad.”

[5:13]  ²⁰ tn Or “pressed.”

[5:13]  ²¹ tn כַּלּוּ (kallu) is the Piel imperative; the verb means “to finish, complete” in the sense of filling up the quota.

[5:14]  ²² tn The quotation is introduced with the common word לֵאמֹר (le’mor, “saying”) and no mention of who said the question.

[5:14]  ²³ sn 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 when it was becoming obvious that, despite all their efforts, they were unable to meet their quotas as before.

[5:15]  ²⁴ sn The last section of this event tells the effect of the oppression on Israel, first on the people (15-19) and then on Moses and Aaron (20-21). The immediate reaction of Israel was to cry to Pharaoh – something they would learn should be directed to God. When Pharaoh rebuffed them harshly, they turned bitterly against their leaders.

[5:15]  ²⁵ tn The imperfect tense should be classified here with the progressive imperfect nuance, because the harsh treatment was a present reality.

[5:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “[they] are saying to us,” the line can be rendered as a passive since there is no expressed subject for the participle.

[5:16]  ²⁷ tn הִנֵּה (hinneh) draws attention to the action reflected in the passive participle מֻכִּים (mukkim): “look, your servants are being beaten.”

[5:16]  ²⁸ tn The word rendered “fault” is the basic OT verb for “sin” – וְחָטָאת (vÿkhata’t). The problem is that it is pointed as a perfect tense, feminine singular verb. Some other form of the verb would be expected, or a noun. But the basic word-group means “to err, sin, miss the mark, way, goal.” The word in this context seems to indicate that the people of Pharaoh – the slave masters – have failed to provide the straw. Hence: “fault” or “they failed.” But, as indicated, the line has difficult grammar, for it would literally translate: “and you [fem.] sin your people.” Many commentators (so GKC 206 §74.g) wish to emend the text to read with the Greek and the Syriac, thus: “you sin against your own people” (meaning the Israelites are his loyal subjects).

[5:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “And he said.”

[5:17]  ³⁰ tn Or “loafers.” The form נִרְפִּים (nirpim) is derived from the verb רָפָה (rafah), meaning “to be weak, to let oneself go.”

[5:18]  ³¹ 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.”

[5:18]  ³² tn The imperfect תִּתֵּנּוּ (tittennu) is here taken as an obligatory imperfect: “you must give” or “you must produce.”

[5:18]  ³³ 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).

[5:2]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh.” This is a rhetorical question, expressing doubt or indignation or simply a negative thought that Yahweh is nothing (see erotesis in E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 944-45). Pharaoh is not asking for information (cf. 1 Sam 25:5-10).

[5:2]  ³⁵ tn The relative pronoun introduces the consecutive clause that depends on the interrogative clause (see GKC 318-19 §107.u).

[5:2]  ³⁶ tn The imperfect tense here receives the classification of obligatory imperfect. The verb שָׁמַע (shama’) followed by “in the voice of” is idiomatic; rather than referring to simple audition – “that I should hear his voice” – it conveys the thought of listening that issues in action – “that I should obey him.”

[5:2]  ³⁷ tn The Piel infinitive construct here has the epexegetical usage with lamed (ל); it explains the verb “obey.”

[5:2]  ³⁸ sn 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 said “I do not know the Lord [i.e., Yahweh].” The point of the plagues and the exodus will be “that he might know.” Pharaoh will come to know this Yahweh, but not in any pleasant way.

[12:31]  ³⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Pharaoh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:31]  ⁴⁰ tn The urgency in Pharaoh’s words is caught by the abrupt use of the imperatives – “get up, go” (קוּמוּ צְּאוּ, qumu tsÿ’u), and “go, serve” (וּלְכוּ עִבְדוּ, ulÿkhu ’ivdu) and “take” and “leave/go” (וָלֵכוּ…קְחוּ, qÿkhu...valekhu).

[12:31]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “as you have said.” The same phrase also occurs in the following verse.

[9:10]  ⁴² sn Though judgment (see v. 8) had taken away the prosperity they did have (symbolized by the bricks and sycamore fig trees), they arrogantly expected the future to bring even greater prosperity (symbolized by the chiseled stone and cedars).

[65:3]  ⁴³ tn Heb “the people who provoke me to anger to my face continually.”

[65:3]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “gardens” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[65:3]  ⁴⁵ tn Or perhaps, “on tiles.”

[3:14]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “waters of siege.”

[3:14]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “go into the mud.”

[3:14]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “Take hold of the mud-brick mold!”