Exodus 5:9

5:9 Make the work harder ¹  for the men so they will keep at it ²  and pay no attention to lying words!” ³ 

Exodus 5:13

5:13 The slave masters were pressuring ⁴  them, saying, “Complete ⁵  your work for each day, just like when there was straw!”

Exodus 31:5

31:5 and with cutting and setting stone, and with cutting wood, to work in all kinds of craftsmanship.

Exodus 32:16

32:16 Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

Exodus 35:33

35:33 and in cutting stones for their setting, ⁶  and in cutting wood, to do work in every artistic craft. ⁷ 

Exodus 39:27

39:27 They made tunics of fine linen – the work of a weaver, for Aaron and for his sons –

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¹ tn Heb “let the work be heavy.”

² tn The text has וְיַעֲשׂוּ־בָהּ (vÿya’asu-vah, “and let them work in it”) or the like. The jussive forms part of the king’s decree that the men not only be required to work harder but be doing it: “Let them be occupied in it.”

sn For a discussion of this whole section, see K. A. Kitchen, “From the Brickfields of Egypt,” TynBul 27 (1976): 137-47.

³ sn The words of Moses are here called “lying words” (דִבְרֵי־שָׁקֶר, divre-shaqer). Here is the main reason, then, for Pharaoh’s new policy. He wanted to discredit Moses. So the words that Moses spoke Pharaoh calls false and lying words. The world was saying that God’s words were vain and deceptive because they were calling people to a higher order. In a short time God would reveal that they were true words.

⁴ tn Or “pressed.”

⁵ tn כַּלּוּ (kallu) is the Piel imperative; the verb means “to finish, complete” in the sense of filling up the quota.

⁶ tn Heb “to set.”

⁷ tn Heb “in every work of thought,” meaning, every work that required the implementation of design or plan.