Bible Strands
Exodus 5:11
Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it; but your workload will in no way be reduced.’”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Pharaoh’s taskmasters address the Israelite brickmakers immediately after announcing the withdrawal of royal straw supply. They deliver the decree while the laborers are already assembled at the work site.
The words — The imperative קְח֤וּ (ke.Chu) literally means “acquire” or “take,” directed at תֶּ֔בֶן (Te.ven) for “straw.” The particle אֵ֥ין ('ein) establishes the absolute negation that the assigned daily quota will remain unchanged.
The thread — This enforcement of unchanged quotas under self-gathered materials recurs in Exodus 5:13, where foremen demand daily brick fulfillment. The people’s immediate response to scatter across Egypt for stubble appears in Exodus 5:12.
Why it lands — The text states that labor metrics will not decrease despite the removal of provided materials. It asks the reader to observe how administrative cruelty operates through rigid quotas rather than explicit physical force.
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
Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished.
Cross-references
- Exodus 5:13 The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Fulfill your quota each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”