So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.
Parallel translations
- WEB So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.
- BSB So the people scattered all over the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.
- NKJV So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.
- NASB So the people scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.
- NLT So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt in search of stubble to use as straw.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The people scatter across Egypt to gather stubble for straw. Their desperate labor shows the burden Pharaoh has imposed.
Overview
Forced to search the land for any usable stubble, the Israelites are scattered and exhausted in pursuit of an impossible quota. The picture of a people frantically scavenging captures the depth of their bondage. Their plight magnifies the contrast between Pharaoh's oppression and the freedom and rest God intends for His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Exod 15:7And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
- Isa 47:14Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
- Nah 1:10For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
- 1 Cor 3:12Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
- Obad 1:18And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.
- Isa 5:24Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
- Joel 2:5Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 5:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.