Bible Strands
Exodus 5:12
So the people scattered all over the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Pharaoh’s overseers address the Israelite laborers after issuing a decree that they must source their own straw while meeting unchanged brick quotas.
The words — וַיָּ֥פֶץ (va.yafetz) translates literally as “and it scattered,” describing the forced dispersal of the workforce, while קַשׁ (qash) denotes “stubble,” the dried stalks required for the mortar mixture.
The thread — The Hebrew word for stubble (qash) reappears in Exodus 15:7, Isaiah 5:24, and Isaiah 47:14 to describe material consumed by fire.
Why it lands — The verse records the logistical expansion of forced labor, requiring readers to note how administrative orders directly dictate the physical movements and survival efforts of the oppressed.
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
So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.
Cross-references
- Exodus 15:7 You overthrew Your adversaries by Your great majesty. You unleashed Your burning wrath; it consumed them like stubble.
- Isaiah 5:24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
- Isaiah 47:14 Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside.
- Joel 2:5 With a sound like that of chariots they bound over the mountaintops, like the crackling of fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army deployed for battle.
- Obadiah 1:18 Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire, and the house of Joseph a burning flame; but the house of Esau will be stubble—Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it. Therefore no survivor will remain from the house of Esau.” For the LORD has spoken.
- Nahum 1:10 For they will be entangled as with thorns and consumed like the drink of a drunkard—like stubble that is fully dry.
- 1 Corinthians 3:12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,