And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.
Parallel translations
- WEB The taskmasters were urgent saying, “Fulfill your work quota daily, as when there was straw!”
- BSB The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Fulfill your quota each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”
- NKJV And the taskmasters forced them to hurry, saying, “Fulfill your work, your daily quota, as when there was straw.”
- NASB And the taskmasters pressed them, saying, “Complete your work quota, your daily amount, just as when you had straw.”
- NLT Meanwhile, the Egyptian slave drivers continued to push hard. “Meet your daily quota of bricks, just as you did when we provided you with straw!” they demanded.
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 taskmasters press them to meet the full daily quota as before. The relentless demand allows no relief.
Overview
The overseers urge the people on, insisting that the daily count be met as if straw were still provided. Their urgency embodies the merciless logic of slavery that values output over human worth. The unrelenting pressure drives the crisis that brings the Israelite foremen before Pharaoh in the verses that follow.
Cross-references & the web
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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 5:13 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
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