Make the work harder on the men so they will be occupied and pay no attention to these lies.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor therein; and don’t let them pay any attention to lying words.”
- KJV Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.
- NKJV Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words.”
- NASB Let the labor be heavier on the men, and have them work at it so that they will pay no attention to false words.”
- NLT Load them down with more work. Make them sweat! That will teach them to listen to lies!”
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
Pharaoh orders heavier work so the people ignore 'lying words.' He labels God's promise as deception and seeks to crush hope with toil.
Overview
Pharaoh deliberately increases the labor to occupy the people and distract them from Moses' message, which he calls lies. His strategy is to make the burden so consuming that faith in God's word seems foolish. This opposition reveals the spiritual battle beneath the physical oppression: the truth of God's promise against the lies of the oppressor who would smother hope.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Job 16:3Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying?
- Mal 3:14You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts?
- Jer 43:2Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to reside there.’
- Zech 1:6But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”
- 2 Kgs 18:20You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me?
- Eph 5:6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 5:9 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.