Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.
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.”
- BSB Make the work harder on the men so they will be occupied and pay no attention to these lies.”
- 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 16:3Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
- Mal 3:14Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
- Jer 43:2Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there:
- Zech 1:6But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.
- 2 Kgs 18:20Thou sayest, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?
- Eph 5:6Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
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 5:9 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
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