Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it. Don’t let them pay any attention to lying words.”
Parallel Translations
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Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it. Don’t let them pay any attention to lying words.”
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Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.
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Let heavier work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard lying words.'
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Exodus 5:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Kings 18:20 You say (but they are but vain words), ‘There is counsel and strength for war.’ Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?
- Job 16:3 Shall vain words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer?
- Jeremiah 43:2 then Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, “You speak falsely. Yahweh our God has not sent you to say, ‘You shall not go into Egypt to live there;’
- Zechariah 1:6 But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? “Then they repented and said, ‘Just as Yahweh of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.’ ”
- Malachi 3:14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God;’ and ‘What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of Armies?
- Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The more cruelly that tyrants rage, the nearer is…
The more cruelly that tyrants rage, the nearer is God’s help.
Of Moses and Aaron.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 5:9 Let there more work be laid upon…
Exo 5:9 Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.
Ver. 9. And not regard vain words.] Vain lying words. So this profane prince calleth and counteth the word of God. "What is truth?" saith Pilate, scoffingly.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The words of Moses and Aaron, which are vain…
The words of Moses and Aaron, which are vain or false, i.e. which they falsely pretend to come from God, when it is only an ill design of their own to advance themselves by raising sedition.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Let there more work be laid upon the men,....…
Let there more work be laid upon the men,.... Instead of lessening it, let it be increased, or "be heavy" (k) upon them, that it may oppress and afflict them and keep them down, and weaken their strength and their spirits, and diminish them:
that they may labour therein; and have no leisure time to spend in idleness and sloth:
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and let them not regard vain words; or "words of falsehood" (l) and lies, such as were spoken by Moses and Aaron, promising them liberty and deliverance from their bondage, which he was determined never to grant, and so eventually make such words to appear to be vain and empty, falsehood and lies.
(k) "aggravetur", Pagninus, Montanus, &c. (l) "in verbis mendacii", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus. "Verbis falsis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
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 Vain words - Those of Moses and Aaron.
Vain words - Those of Moses and Aaron.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 5:9. Vain words — Those of Moses and…
Exo 5:9. Vain words — Those of Moses and Aaron, which he said were vain, or false; that is, that they falsely pretended that their God had commanded them to go and worship, when it was only a crafty design of their own to advance themselves by raising sedition.
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 Lying words, alluding to the proposals of Moses. (Haydock)…
Lying words, alluding to the proposals of Moses. (Haydock) -- Let them not spend their time in idle conversation. (Calmet)
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).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. Let them be fully occupied with their work,…
9. Let them be fully occupied with their work, and have no time to regard ‘lying words,’ as if God had really demanded a pilgrimage of them.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) Let them not regard vain words.—Or, false words.…
(9) Let them not regard vain words.—Or, false words. The reference is to the promises of deliverance wherewith Moses and Aaron had raised the people’s hopes (Exo_4:30). Pharaoh supposed these to be “vain words,” as Sennacherib did those spoken by Hezekiah (2Ki_18:20).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Ver. 9. Let there more work be laid upon…
Ver. 9. Let there more work be laid upon the men. Rather, as in the margin, "Let the work be heavy upon the men." Let the tasks set them be such as to occupy all their time, and not leave them any spare moments in which they may be tempted to listen to mischievous talkers, like Moses and Aaron) who flatter them with vain (literally, lying, words). Pharaoh, no doubt, imagined that the hopes raised by the two brothers were vain and illusive. He was utterly blind as to the course which events were about to take.
Vain words.
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There can be no doubt that "vain words" are unworthy of attention, deserve contempt, are foolish, unjustifiable. But what are "vain words"? What is the test whereby we are to know whether words are vain or not? Simply, the issue of them. Pharaoh thought that the promises of deliverance wherewith Moses and Aaron had excited the people were "vain words." Sennacherib described similarly the words of trust and confidence in God uttered by Hezekiah. (2Ki_18:20) The Athenians thought the same of St Paul"s words concerning the resurrection. (Act_17:32) But we know that, in none of these cases, were the words uttered "vain." The event justified or will justify them. When words then are uttered by any grave authority, especially if they are uttered in the name of God, we should hesitate to call them "vain." We should await the end. Full often, what the scoffer has called "vain words" turn out "words of truth and soberness words which tell with terrible force against those who have despised and rejected them words which to have heard and despised is condemnation in the sight of the Almighty.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.