Exodus 5:16

Exo 5:16 There 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.

Ver. 16. But the fault is in thine own people.] Effugiunt corvi, vexat censura columbas. As a man is friended, so is his matter ended. And where the hedge is low, a man may lightly make large leaps. Or, as the Frenchman saith, Qui son chien vult tuer, la rage luy met sus, He that hath a mind to kill a dog, gives out that he is mad. It was fault enough in God’s Israel, that they would not be miserable.

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.

Exo 5:16. The fault is in thine own people — That is, in the Egyptian task- masters; who, by sending us abroad to gather straw, hinder us from doing the work which they require; and so are both unjust and unreasonable. For if they had given us straw we should have fulfilled our tasks.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, thy people the Egyptians are in fault.

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

Verse 16. The fault is in thine own people.] חטאת chatath, the SIN, is in thy own people. 1st. Because they require impossibilities; and 2dly, because they punish us for not doing what cannot be performed.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(16) The fault is in thine own people.—Heb., thy people is in fault. There can be no reasonable doubt that this clause is antithetical to the preceding one, and means that, though the Hebrews are punished, the people really in fault are the Egyptians.

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

16. they say] viz. the Egyptian ‘taskmasters.’

but the fault is in thine own people] The text cannot be right: not only is the Heb. ungrammatical, but the fault was not in the people, but in the king. It is better, adding one letter, to read with LXX. Pesh. Di. Bä. ‘and thou sinnest against thine own people,’ i.e. committest a wrong against thine own subjects, the Hebrews.

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.

There is no straw given unto thy servants,.... As used to be, which they supposed Pharaoh knew nothing of, and by which it appears that the order given by Pharaoh, Exo 5:6 was not given in the hearing of the officers, only to the taskmasters, and by them to be made known to the officers, though indeed both are there mentioned, and both represent this to the people, Exo 5:10.

and they say to us, make brick, though they had no straw to make or burn it with:

and, behold, thy servants are beaten; because the same number of bricks is not made as heretofore, but the fault is in thine own people; the taskmasters, who sent the people abroad to get straw or stubble themselves, and therefore could not make the same bricks as before; or "thy people sin" (n), the guilt is theirs: or by thy people are meant the Israelites, whom they call Pharaoh's people to gain favour with him; and then the sense is, either "sin" is imputed "to thy people" (o), the blame is laid upon them, or punishment is inflicted on them without cause, sin being often put for punishment; they are wrongfully charged with a fault, and wrongfully punished.

(n) "et peccat populus tuns", Montanus, Drusius, Cartwright. (o) So Vatablus, Piscator, and some in Munster, Pagninus.

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

Withal. Hebrew, "the fault is in thy own people," who require impossibilities. (Calmet) --- They throw the blame upon the king’s officers, (Menochius) though it was his own. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

i.e. The Egyptian task-masters, who, by sending us abroad to gather straw, hinder us from doing the work which they require; and so they are both unjust and unreasonable. They charge the task-masters, not the king, either in civility and duty, casting his fault upon the instruments; or because they did not know, or at best not believe, that this was the king’s act. Others, Thy people, i.e. the Egyptians, make themselves guilty, and will bring the vengeance of God upon them for their cruelty.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

They say to us. Or, "they keep saying to us." The participle is used, which implies continuance or repetition. The fruit is in thine own people. Literally, "Thine own people is in fault," or "sins.

Sufferings, even at the hand of lawful authorities, not always deserved.

servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people." Punishment often visits the wrong back. Kings commit injuries or follies, and their subjects suffer. Employers are greedy of gain, and their "hands" must work overtime, go without sleep, trench on the Sunday rest. Wholesale tradesmen adulterate goods, and retail traders are blamed and lose custom. Justice itself is often at fault, and punishes the wrong person sometimes by a mere mistake, as when the wrong man is hanged for a murder; but sometimes also through a defect in the law itself which judges have to administer; as when Christians were delivered to the wild beasts for not sacrificing to the divinity of the emperor, or Protestants were burnt at the stake for denying transubstantiation. It is not to be assumed that the law is always right. The law of any country at any time is only the expression of the will of those who are in authority at the time, and has no more divinity or sacredness about it than they have. Those who transgress the law will, of course, be punished for it; but that fact proves nothing as to their good-or ill-desert. The greatest benefactors of mankind have had to set human law at defiance, and to endure its penalties. Their answer to the authorities who persecute them might constantly be, "Thy servants are beaten, but the fault is in thine own people."

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

ולבנים אמרים לנו AND BRICKS THEY — the taskmasters — SAY TO US עשו MAKE, just as the former number.

וְחָטָאת עַמֶּךָ BUT THE FAULT IS IN THINE OWN PEOPLE — If the word וחטאת had the vowel Patach under the ט I would say that it is a noun in the construct state, so that the meaning would be, “and this thing is the sin of thy people” But now, since the vowel is Kametz, it is a noun in the absolute case, and its meaning is as follows: “And this thing brings sin upon thy people”, as though it were written וחטאת לעמך. Sirnilarly we find ל omitted in, (Ruth 1:19) “When they were come בית לחם” which is the same as לבית לחם, to Bethlehem, and there are many similar examples.

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.