Bible Strands
Exodus 5:10
So the taskmasters and foremen of the people went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I am no longer giving you straw.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Pharaoh’s taskmasters and foremen deliver his decree directly to the Israelite laborers immediately after he orders them to gather their own straw while keeping their work quotas unchanged.
The words — נֹגְשֵׂ֤ (no.ge.Sei) identifies the taskmasters who enforce the labor quotas, and שֹׁ֣טְרָ֔י/ו (Sho.te.Ra/v) names the foremen appointed to supervise the daily work.
The thread — The deployment of overseers to intensify forced labor repeats the pattern established in Exodus 1:11, while the ruler’s harsh and deceptive command mirrors the warning in Proverbs 29:12 that a leader who listens to lies produces wicked officials.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to observe how institutional oppression escalates through human agents and to recognize the immediate burden placed on the people without attributing divine endorsement to the command.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.
Cross-references
- Exodus 1:11 So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
- Exodus 3:7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.
- Proverbs 29:12 If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.