Exodus 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 

Make the work harder for the men so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies."

"Let the labor be heavier on the men, and let them work at it so that they will pay no attention to false words."

Load them down with more work. Make them sweat! That will teach them to listen to these liars!"

Crack down on them. That'll cure them of their whining, their god-fantasies."

Give the men harder work, and see that they do it; let them not give attention to false words.

Let heavier work be laid on them; then they will labor at it and pay no attention to deceptive words."

"Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words."

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

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.