Exodus 5:13

Exo 5:13 And the taskmasters hasted [them], saying, Fulfil your works, [your] daily tasks, as when there was straw.

Ver. 13. And the taskmasters.] Who were Egyptians, as the officers under them were Israelities, and beaten. {Exo 5:14}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrew, the work of a day in his day.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

And the taskmasters hasted them . . . officers . . . beaten--As the nearest fields were bared and the people had to go farther for stubble, it was impossible for them to meet the demand by the usual tale of bricks. "The beating of the officers is just what might have been expected from an Eastern tyrant, especially in the valley of the Nile, as it appears from the monuments, that ancient Egypt, like modern China, was principally governed by the stick" [TAYLOR]. "The mode of beating was by the offender being laid flat on the ground and generally held by the hands and feet while the chastisement was administered" [WILKINSON]. (Deu 25:2). A picture representing the Hebrews on a brick field, exactly as described in this chapter, was found in an Egyptian tomb at Thebes.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(13) The taskmasters hasted them.—The Egyptian monuments show us foreign labourers engaged in brick-making under Egyptian overseers, or “taskmasters,” who are armed with sticks, and “haste” the labourers whenever they cease work for the purpose of resting themselves. The overseers are represented as continually saying to the workpeople, “Work without faintness.” (See Wilkinson, in Rawlinson’s Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 214.)

As when there was straw.—Heb., as when there, was the straw—i.e., as. when the straw was furnished to you.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. your daily tasks] Heb. the matter of a day in its day, a Heb. idiom implying a daily portion, amount, or duty. See Exo_16:4, Lev_23:37 (RV. ‘each on its own day’), 1Ki_8:59, 2Ki_25:30 al.

demanded] i.e. asked. ‘Demand’ in Old English meant simply to ‘ask’ (Fr. demander), not, as now, to ask with authority. See Aldis Wright’s Bible Word-Book, or DB. s.v. So Job_38:3, 2Sa_11:7, Mat_2:4, &c. Here ‘and demanded’ is a paraphrase, the Heb. being simply saying.

13–14. Although however the number of workers was thus materially diminished, the ‘taskmasters,’ carrying out the Pharaoh’s injunctions, still demand the same tale of bricks; and as it is not forthcoming, the ‘officers’ (v. 6) of the Israelites are held responsible for the deficit, and beaten.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the taskmasters hasted them, Kept them tight and close to their work, and were urgent on them to make quick dispatch of it:

saying, fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw; they insisted upon it, that they did the same business at the brickkilns, made the same number of bricks every day, as they used to do when they had straw at hand. See Exo 5:11.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Vers. 13, 14. The taskmasters hasted them. The Egyptian overseers, armed with rods, went about among the toiling Israelites continually, and "hasted them" by dealing out blows freely on all who made any pause in their work. The unceasing toil lasted from morning to night; yet still the required" tale" could not be produced; and consequently the native officers, whose business it was to produce the "tale," were punished by the bastinado at the close of the day not giving in the proper amount. Kalisch observes now the Arabic fellahs, whose position is very analogous to that of the Israelites described in our text, are treated by the Turks in the same manner. Arabic overseers have to give an account of the labours of their countrymen to the Turkish taskmasters, who often chastise them mercilessly for the real or imputed of. fences of the Arabic workmen."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

בּיומו יום דּבר, the quantity fixed for every day, "just as when the straw was (there)," i.e., was given out for the work.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

אצים means PRESSING.

דבר יום ביומו means the full quantity due each day complete it on that day, as ye used to do when straw was ready at hand.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.