You shall require from them the number of the bricks which they made before. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, saying, ‘Let’s go and sacrifice to our God.’
Parallel Translations
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You shall require from them the number of the bricks which they made before. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, saying, ‘Let’s go and sacrifice to our God.’
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And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.
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And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish aught thereof; for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying: Let us go and sacrifice to our God.
Cross-references (1)
Passages linked to Exodus 5:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 106:41 He gave them into the hand of the nations. Those who hated them ruled over them.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 5:8 And the tale of the bricks, which…
Exo 5:8 And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish [ought] thereof: for they [be] idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go [and] sacrifice to our God.
Ver. 8. For they be idle.] I heard a great man once say, saith Luther, Necesse est otiosos esse homilies qui ista negotia religionis curant. They must needs be idle fellows that are so much taken up about the business of religion. {See Trapp on "Exo 5:4"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the tale of the bricks, which they did…
And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, you shall lay upon them,.... Oblige them to make and bring in the same number of bricks they used to do, when straw was brought to them and given them; by which it appears, that their daily task was such a number of bricks:
you shall not diminish ought thereof; not make any abatement of the number of bricks, in consideration of their loss of time and their labour in going to fetch straw from other places:
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for they be idle; and want to be indulged in a lazy disposition, which ought by no means to be connived at:
therefore they cry, let us go and sacrifice to our God; suggesting, that this request and cry of theirs did not proceed from a religious principle, or the great veneration they had for their God, but from the sloth and idleness they were addicted to.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain They are idle - The cities they built for…
They are idle - The cities they built for Pharaoh, were witnesses for them that they were not idle; yet he thus basely misrepresents them, that he might have a pretense to increase their burdens.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. And the tale of the bricks] Tale…
Verse 8. And the tale of the bricks] Tale signifies the number, from the Anglo-Saxon [Anglo-Saxon], to number, to count, c.
For they be idle therefore they cry - Let us go and sacrifice] Thus their desire to worship the true God in a proper manner was attributed to their unwillingness to work; a reflection which the Egyptians (in principle) of the present day cast on these who, while they are fervent in spirit serving the Lord, are not slothful in business. See Clarke on Ex 5:17.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 5:8. They are idle — The cities they…
Exo 5:8. They are idle — The cities they built for Pharaoh were witnesses for them that they were not idle; yet he thus basely misrepresents them, that he might have a pretence to increase their burdens.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Idle. Thus the impious speak of those who consecrate…
Idle. Thus the impious speak of those who consecrate any part of their time to the service of God: and thus Protestants often condemn the holy-days prescribed by the Catholic Church!
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain tale--an appointed number of bricks. The materials of their…
tale--an appointed number of bricks. The materials of their labor were to be no longer supplied, and yet, as the same amount of produce was exacted daily, it is impossible to imagine more aggravated cruelty--a perfect specimen of Oriental despotism.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. tale] that which is told or counted: an…
8. tale] that which is told or counted: an archaism for ‘number’ (= Germ. Zahl). So v. 18, 1Sa_18:27, 1Ch_9:28. Cf. Milton, L’Allegro, 67 f., ‘And every shepherd tells [i.e. counts: Psa_48:12; Psa_147:4] his tale [viz. of sheep] Under the hawthorn in the dale.’ The Heb. here means properly a rightly regulated amount.
therefore they cry, &c.] Their request to be allowed to make a pilgrimage to their God is merely a pretext for idleness.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The tale of the bricksi.e. , the number of…
The tale of the bricksi.e. , the number of the bricks. Exactly as many were to be required of each batch of workmen under the new regulation as previously. The demand was one with which, as the king well know, it would be impossible to comply. For they be idle. There was so much ground for the charge as this that hitherto, their forced labours had not occupied the whole of their time. They had been able, apparently, to cultivate their own plots of ground, (Deu_11:10) to raise crops of cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic, (Num_11:5) to catch fish (ibid.), and attend public meetings. (Exo_4:30, Exo_4:31) They had, in fact, had time which they could call their own. Now this was to be so no more. The Pharaoh, however, misrepresents and exaggerates, speaking as if their forced labours had been a mere nothing, and mere want of occupation had led them to raise the cry us go and sacrifice." It would have been far nearer the truth to say, that the severity and continuousness of their labours had made the notion of festival time, during which they would cease from their toils, generally popular.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.