Exodus 5:4

World English Bible

Contextual Overview

³ They said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Yahweh, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword." ⁴ The king of Egypt said to them, "Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people from their work? Get back to your burdens!" ⁵ Pharaoh said, "Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens." ⁶ The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, ⁷ "You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸ The number of the bricks, which they made before, you require from them. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.' ⁹ Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor therein; and don't let them pay any attention to lying words."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

wherefore: Jeremiah 38:4, Amos 7:10, Luke 23:2, Acts 16:20, Acts 16:21, Acts 24:5

let: Taphreeoo, from pard, to loose, disengage; and which we render let, from the Anglo-Saxon lettan, to hinder. Ye hinder the people from their work: "Get you unto your burdens." "Let religion alone and mind your work." The language not only of tyranny, but of thoughtless irreligion.

burdens: Exodus 1:11

Reciprocal: Exodus 6:7 - from under Exodus 10:11 - And they Jeremiah 32:3 - Wherefore

Cross-References

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Genesis 5:1
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in God's likeness.

Genesis 5:3
Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

Genesis 5:7
Seth lived after he became the father of Enosh eight hundred seven years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:10
Enosh lived after he became the father of Kenan, eight hundred fifteen years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:13
Kenan lived after he became the father of Mahalalel eight hundred forty years, and became the father of sons and daughters

Genesis 5:19
Jared lived after he became the father of Enoch eight hundred years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:22
Enoch walked with God after he became the father of Methuselah three hundred years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:26
Methuselah lived after he became the father of Lamech seven hundred eighty-two years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:30
Lamech lived after he became the father of Noah five hundred ninety-five years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the king of Egypt said to them,.... For he was not struck dumb, as Artapanus g, afore cited writer, says:

wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? as they did when they gathered them together, and wrought signs before them; which Pharaoh it seems had heard of, and had got their names very readily:

get you unto your burdens; meaning not Moses and Aaron, ordering them to go about their private and family business, but the people they represented, and on whose account they came; and it is highly probable the elders of the people, at least some of them, were with them, to whom these words might be more particularly directed. See Exodus 3:18.

g Ut supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434.)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let - i. e. hinder.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 5:4. Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron — He hints that the Hebrews are in a state of revolt, and charges Moses and Aaron as being ringleaders of the sedition. This unprincipled charge has been, in nearly similar circumstances, often repeated since. Men who have laboured to bring the mass of the common people from ignorance, irreligion, and general profligacy of manners, to an acquaintance with themselves and God, and to a proper knowledge of their duty to him and to each other, have been often branded as being disaffected to the state, and as movers of sedition among the people! Exodus 5:17.

Let the people — תפריעו taphriu, from פרע para, to loose or disengage, which we translate to let, from the Anglo-Saxon [Anglo-Saxon] lettan, to hinder. Ye hinder the people from working. Get ye to your burdens. "Let religion alone, and mind your work." The language not only of tyranny, but of the basest irreligion also.