Exodus 5:15-19 · Bible study
Exodus 5:15-19 Commentary: Crying to Pharaoh
Hebrew · 9 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
The Israelite foremen appeal to Pharaoh for justice, but he hardens his heart.
Research Summary
- Meaning: The foremen appeal to Pharaoh for justice, but he responds by accusing them of idleness and intensifying their labor, leading them to see their hopeless situation.
- Key words: “cried” (H6817, a cry for help), “idle” (H7503, slack or disheartened), “evil case” (H7451, literally “in evil”).
- Main debate: The phrase “thy people sin” (v.16). Is it a textual error (Cambridge: read “thou sinnest against thine own people”) or does it mean Pharaoh’s people are at fault (Keil)?
- Theological theme: The failure of human justice and the necessity of divine deliverance. Oppression often escalates before liberation.
- Best use: A teaching on trusting God rather than earthly powers when suffering injustice, and understanding that God may allow trouble to deepen before He acts.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
15So the Israelite foremen went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way?
16No straw has been given to your servants, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”
17“You are slackers!” Pharaoh replied. “Slackers! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’
18Now get to work. You will be given no straw, yet you must deliver the full quota of bricks.”
19The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You must not reduce your daily quota of bricks.”
WEB World English Bible 2000
15Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you deal this way with your servants?
16No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, ‘Make brick!’ and behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.”
17But Pharaoh said, “You are idle! You are idle! Therefore you say, ‘Let’s go and sacrifice to Yahweh.’
18Go therefore now, and work; for no straw shall be given to you; yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks!”
19The officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble when it was said, “You shall not diminish anything from your daily quota of bricks!”
KJV King James Version 1769
15Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?
16There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people.
17But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord.
18Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks.
19And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it was said, Ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
15Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?
16There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people.
17But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and sacrifice to Jehovah.
18Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the number of bricks.
19And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, when it was said, Ye shall not diminish aught from your bricks, your daily tasks.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
15And the authorities of the sons of Israel come in and cry unto Pharaoh, saying, `Why dost thou thus to thy servants?
16Straw is not given to thy servants, and they are saying to us, Make bricks, and lo, thy servants are smitten--and thy people hath sinned.'
17And he saith, `Remiss--ye are remiss, therefore ye are saying, Let us go, let us sacrifice to Jehovah;
18and now, go, serve; and straw is not given to you, and the measure of bricks ye do give.'
19And the authorities of the sons of Israel see them in affliction, saying, `Ye do not diminish from your bricks; the matter of a day in its day.'
Darby Darby Bible 1890
15Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, Why dost thou deal thus with thy bondmen?
16There is no straw given to thy bondmen, and they say to us, Make brick; and behold, thy bondmen are beaten, but it is the fault of thy people.
17And he said, Ye are idle, idle! therefore ye say, Let us go and sacrifice to Jehovah.
18And now go — work! and straw shall not be given you, and ye shall deliver the measure of bricks.
19And the officers of the children of Israel saw [that] it stood ill with them, because it was said, Ye shall not diminish anything from your bricks, the daily work.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
15And the officers of the children of Israel came, and cried out to Pharao, saying: Why dealest thou so with thy servants?
16Straw is not given us, and bricks are required of us as before; behold we, thy servants, are beaten with whips, and thy people is unjustly dealt withal.
17And he said: You are idle, and therefore you say: Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.
18Go therefore and work: straw shall not be given you, and you shall deliver the accustomed number of bricks.
19And the officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in evil case, because it was said to them: There shall not a whit be diminished of the bricks for every day.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Exodus 5:15
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
The commentators broadly agree that the foremen's appeal to Pharaoh reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation. Matthew Henry observes that the officers went to the supreme power expecting protection, not realizing the king himself had ordered the oppression. Gill notes they supposed Pharaoh knew nothing of the harsh treatment, but they were mistaken. Clarke adds that they sought relief from the wrong source, since Pharaoh was the author of their misery. When the king replies with the repeated charge of idleness (a term Barnes connects to the Egyptian cultural contempt for laziness, even counting it among sins judged in the afterlife), he is not correcting an error but imposing his will. Keil and Delitzsch point out that the Hebrew phrase ‘ammeka ve-chata’t (v.16) can be read either as “your people sin” or, with a slight emendation, as “you have sinned against your people.” The officers' cry thus fails because they appeal to the very tyrant who could never grant them justice. By v.19, they see they are in evil case, a phrase Calvin takes to mean they saw no remedy, only a hopeless future.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Naive appeal reading: The foremen genuinely expected justice from Pharaoh, not realizing he was the author of their suffering and cannot be reasoned with (Henry, Gill).
- Textual emendation view: The Hebrew text is corrupt; the original likely read “thou sinnest against thine own people,” making the officers bolder in accusing Pharaoh directly of injustice (Cambridge).
- Theological preparation view: The failed appeal is part of God’s plan to harden Pharaoh, escalate the conflict, and show that deliverance can only come from divine intervention, not human negotiation (Calvin, Keil & Delitzsch).
What is clear: The foremen's appeal to Pharaoh is rejected, and he intensifies their oppression, leading them to see their situation as hopeless—a turning point that leads them to confront Moses and ultimately to turn toward God.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Who is blamed in v.16 (“thy people sin”)? | The foremen are making an accusation, either against Pharaoh's taskmasters or against Pharaoh himself. | Cambridge and many translations follow a textual emendation reading “thou sinnest against thine own people” (the king is guilty). Keil and Delitzsch keep the Hebrew as “your people sin,” meaning the Egyptian taskmasters. The textual evidence is divided. |
| The foremen’s understanding of their situation | They are in desperate straits and seek relief from the highest human authority. | Some see them as naively hoping for justice from a tyrant (Clarke, Henry). Others read them as making a strategic appeal aimed at the king's sense of order, which backfires. Calvin suggests they were themselves grieved and showed it by their sad countenances. |
| Why Pharaoh charges idleness | Pharaoh uses the charge to justify increasing the workload and to discredit their desire to worship Yahweh. | Barnes emphasizes the cultural value of industriousness in Egypt: the charge was plausible to Egyptian ears. Others see it as pure cynicism, a pretext for further oppression regardless of whether the people were actually idle. |
| The theological purpose of this episode | It shows the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and the escalation of suffering before deliverance. | Reformed traditions emphasize God’s sovereignty in hardening Pharaoh’s heart (Romans 9:17). Other traditions focus on human sin and oppression as consequences of rebellion against God, with the hardness as Pharaoh’s own choice. |
Historical & Cultural Context
The scene unfolds in the wake of Pharaoh's decree (Exodus 5:6, 9) to withhold straw while demanding the same brick quota. Egyptian brick-making is well attested in monumental art. The Cambridge Bible cites the tomb of Rekhmira (c. 1450 BC), which shows Asiatic captives making bricks for a temple, illustrating the forced labor the Hebrews endured. Straw served as a critical binding agent; without it, bricks were brittle. By requiring the people to gather stubble in the fields (v.12), Pharaoh removed the raw material while maintaining the output, a strategy both punitive and impossible.
The foremen (shoterim) were Hebrew overseers set over their own people by the taskmasters (v.14). They occupied a precarious position: responsible for meeting quotas while subject to beatings when quotas fell short. Their choice to petition Pharaoh directly reflects the ancient Near Eastern practice of appealing to the king as the ultimate judge. But in this case, the king was the oppressor. Egypt's kings were considered divine, so a direct plea was normal, yet here the god-king used his authority to crush, not to rescue. Barnes observes that the Egyptian cultural obsession with productivity made the charge of idleness especially damaging: the king painted religious devotion as a cover for laziness, a tactic that resonated with Egyptian elites. The foremen, caught between an impossible task and a king who would not listen, embody the experience of oppressed peoples who try to work within a system that is rigged against them.
Textual Notes
Among the consulted sources, the Cambridge Bible notes a likely textual issue in verse 16. The Hebrew of “and the fault is in your own people” is grammatically awkward, and the Septuagint and Syriac read “and thou sinnest against thine own people,” which shifts the accusation from the Egyptian taskmasters to Pharaoh himself. This variant affects how the officers’ complaint is understood: they may be charging the king directly with wrongdoing. Other commentators (Keil and Delitzsch) retain the Masoretic reading and interpret “thy people” as the Egyptian taskmasters. No other significant variants are noted in the supplied excerpts.
Reception History
Across church history, this passage has been read as a classic instance of the world's hostility to God’s people and the way oppression often increases when deliverance is near. Early church writers saw Pharaoh as a type of the devil, whose tactics include accusing God’s people of laziness when they want to worship. During the Reformation, Calvin and others used the example to encourage believers who suffer under unjust rulers: the foremen’s despair is real, but it drives them back to God. In African American preaching and spirituals, the scene of Egyptian brick-making without straw became a powerful image of chattel slavery and the cruelty of human masters, yet it also carried the hope that God heard the cries of the oppressed, a story that would lead to Exodus. More recently, the passage has been used in liberation theology to highlight structural sin and the failure of appeals to unjust systems.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The Mistaken Appeal: The foremen cry to Pharaoh for justice, but he is the source of their trouble. Their plea assumes a fair hearing from someone who has already decided against them.
- The Accusation of Idleness: Pharaoh weaponizes shame, charging them with laziness and twisting their desire to worship into rebellion. It is a classic tactic of the powerful: blame the victim for resisting.
- The Realization of Evil Case: The foremen finally see they are trapped. No appeal can change the king’s heart. This sets the stage for Israel to cry out to the true King.
Five-point outline
- Complaint to the wrong judge (v.15-16): The foremen argue their case with evidence, no straw, beatings, impossibility.
- Pharaoh’s counter-charge (v.17): He repeats “idle” twice, dismissing their grievance as a cover for laziness.
- The impossible command (v.18): Work without straw but deliver the same number of bricks.
- The bitter realization (v.19): The foremen understand they are in evil case, no mercy, no escape.
- The turning point (v.20-21, context): They meet Moses and Aaron and blame them, revealing that human leaders cannot fix a broken system; only God can.
Illustration hooks
- A tenant who complains to a landlord about a broken heater, only to discover the landlord deliberately turned it off to force them out. The authority you trust is the one causing the harm.
- A whistleblower at a company who reports fraud to the very executive who orchestrated it. The appeal is not only futile but dangerous.
- Anyone who has tried to reason with someone who has already made up their mind, and found that every rational argument is twisted into evidence against you.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Why does God allow my obedience to make my situation worse before it gets better?
- How do I respond when people in authority accuse me of laziness or bad motives for legitimate needs?
- What should I do when my cry for help seems to fall on deaf ears?
Leading a Discussion
This passage confronts us with a painful reality: sometimes the authorities we trust are the source of our suffering. The foremen assumed Pharaoh would care about justice. They were wrong. As you discuss these verses, notice how each character reacts, the foremen, Pharaoh, and eventually Moses, and ask where you see yourself in the story.
Discussion questions
- Observation: What specific complaints do the foremen bring to Pharaoh (v.15-16)? What evidence do they offer?
- Observation: How does Pharaoh respond? Why does he repeat the charge of idleness?
- Interpretation: Why do the foremen go to Pharaoh instead of to God? What does this reveal about their expectations?
- Interpretation: The foremen say “the fault is in your own people.” What does this accusation imply about who they think is responsible?
- Application: When have you expected fairness from someone who had already decided against you? What did you learn?
- Application: In what situations today do people cry for justice to systems that are themselves unjust? How should Christians respond?
- Application: The foremen’s hope fails, but the story doesn’t end here. What does this teach us about where to place our ultimate trust?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Exodus 5:8 | You shall require from them the number of the bricks which they made before. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, saying, ‘Let’s go and sacrifice to our God.’ |
| Matthew 26:8 | But when his disciples saw this, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? |
| John 6:27 | Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him.” |
| II Thessalonians 3:10 | For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: “If anyone is not willing to work, don’t let him eat.” |
| II Thessalonians 3:11 | For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don’t work at all, but are busybodies. |
| Ezekiel 18:18 | As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he will die in his iniquity. |
| Daniel 2:9 | But if you don’t make known to me the dream, there is but one law for you; for you have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, until the situation changes. Therefore tell me the dream, and I will know that you can show me its interpretation.” |
| Daniel 2:13 | So the decree went out, and the wise men were to be slain. They sought Daniel and his companions to be slain. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke argues that the fault belongs to the people themselves: they demand what cannot be done and then punish others for failing. He also observes that those indifferent to their souls often mistake genuine religious earnestness for laziness, overlooking the command to combine diligence in business with fervor in spirit.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes notes that the charge of idleness was shrewdly chosen, because Egyptian culture despised laziness and its religious beliefs even listed idleness as a sin condemned in the afterlife. The accusation would be easily believed, since Egyptians saw how religious festivals frequently interrupted work.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin reads the officers' downcast look as their own despair, not just observation of the people's grief. Forced to announce Pharaoh's cruel edict, their faces betrayed the sorrow of men who unwillingly oppressed their own brethren and saw no hope of deliverance.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The Cambridge Bible notes that the Hebrew text of the officers' reply to Pharaoh is likely corrupt. The original reading, preserved in the Septuagint and Syriac versions, probably had them accuse Pharaoh of sinning against his own subjects, the Hebrews, rather than blaming the Israelites themselves.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill observes that the Israelite officers pleaded with Pharaoh as "thy servants," even though they were not his proper subjects but had been forced into slavery by him. They appealed to him for justice, unaware that the harsh orders came from Pharaoh himself. Gill notes the tragic irony of their mistaken trust.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch reads the phrase "thy people sin" as a direct accusation against the Egyptians, not the Israelites. They argue the contrast with "thy servants" (the Israelite overseers) shows Pharaoh's own people are the offenders. The unusual feminine grammar of the Hebrew word supports this reading.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange sees a deliberate double meaning in Moses and Aaron's modest request for a three-day feast. What sounds like a petition for a furlough actually conceals a command to set the people free, and the call to worship in the wilderness points toward a complete separation from Egypt. Pharaoh's defiant refusal marks him as the prototype of all religious tyrants, his impiety beginning with a dismissal of the unknown God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry highlights the painful dilemma of the head-workmen: they had to choose between abusing those under them or being abused by those over them. Rather than become tyrants themselves, they chose to suffer tyranny, showing a principled refusal to mistreat others even when under terrible pressure.