Exodus 5:18

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Go therefore now, and work, for no straw shall be given to you, yet shall you deliver the same number of bricks!"

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible

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Word by word

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וְתֹ֥כֶן

tôken

H8506

“and · measurement of”

Conjunction + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct

Appears 2× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H8505

TWOT: 2511a

measurement, a measured amount

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

10: words
8: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is וְתֹ֥כֶן measurement H8506 — appearing just 2 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

וְתֹ֥כֶן measurement H8506

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וְתֹ֥כֶן measurement H8506 occurs in 2 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Ezekiel 45:11

Grammatical profile

4 verbs
3 nouns
1 preposition
1 adverb
1 particle

Verb forms

לְכ֣וּ Qal · Imperative
עִבְד֔וּ Qal · Imperative
יִנָּתֵ֣ן Niphal · Imperfect
תִּתֵּֽנּוּ Qal · Imperfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

יִנָּתֵ֣ן to give H5414 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 22 words from the Hebrew and 21 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 10 Hebrew tokens and 16 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Exodus 5:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

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 shall die in his iniquity.
Daniel 2:9–13 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 time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me the interpretation of it.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Exodus 5:18 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְעַתָּה֙ לְכ֣וּ עִבְד֔וּ וְתֶ֖בֶן לֹא יִנָּתֵ֣ן לָכֶ֑ם וְתֹ֥כֶן לְבֵנִ֖ים תִּתֵּֽנּוּ

Go therefore now, and work, for no straw shall be given to you, yet shall you deliver the same number of bricks!"

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 5:18 Septuagint · lemma form

νῦν οὖν πορεύομαι ἐργάζομαι ὁ γάρ ἄχυρον οὐ δίδωμι σύ καί ὁ σύνταξις ὁ πλινθεία ἀποδίδωμι

Now then go and work, for straw shall not be given to you, yet you⌃ shall return the rate of bricks.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּכְעַן אֱזִילוּ פְלָחוּ וְתִבְנָא לָא יִתְיְהֵב לְכוֹן וּסְכוֹם לְבֵינַיָא תִּתְּנוּן:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּכְדוּן אִיזִילוּ פְלָחוּ וְתִיבְנָא לָא יִתְיַהֵב לְכוֹן וּסְכוּם לִבְנַיָא תִּתְּנוּן

And now, go, work; but the straw shall not be given you, yet the number of the bricks you shall produce.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Exodus 5:18 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Exo 5:18 Go therefore now, [and] work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks.

Ver. 18. Yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks.] Or be miserably beaten, if but one be missing. The Spaniards, besides other intolerable burdens and bondages that they lay upon the poor Indians, suppose they show the wretches great favour when they do not, for their pleasure, whip them with cords, and day by day drop their naked bodies with burning bacon. {a} Regimen without righteousness turns into tyranny.

{a} Sir Francis Drake’s World Encompas., p. 53.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

Go therefore now, and work,.... Go about your business, attend to your work, even you officers, as well as your people; work yourselves, as well as see that your people do theirs, and do not trouble me with such impertinent applications:

for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks; the usual number of bricks, as the Vulgate Latin version has it; though in Exo 5:8, it is rendered in that version the measure of bricks, and so another word is translated by them, Exo 5:14, and perhaps both may be intended, both number and measure; that is, that it was expected and insisted on that they delivered the full number of bricks they used to make, and these of full measure; for bricks were made of different measures, as Vitruvius (p) observes; some among the bricks were of two hands' breadth, others of four, and a third sort of five. See Gill on Exo 5:7.

(p) Ut supra. (Vide Vitruvium de Architectura, l. 2. c. 3. p. 46)

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

The Pulpit Commentary

Go therefore now and worki.e. "Off with you to the brickfields at once, and get to your own special work of superintendence, which you are neglecting so long as you remain here. It is useless to remain. I reject both of your requests. Straw shall not be given; and the tale of bricks required shall be no less."

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

ותכן לבנים means THE NUMBER OF THE BRICKS; similar is (2 Kings 12:12) “the money המתכן”, i. e. the money which was counted, just as it states in that passage (v. 11), “and they put it up in bags and counted the money”.

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.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Exodus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 10 words (8 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is tôken (“measurement”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “measurement” (tôken) contribute to the verse as a whole?
The word “measurement” first appears here in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
Ezekiel 45:11 shares the word «measurement» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“to give” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «לְכ֣וּ» is Qal Imperative. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and John Gill's Exposition read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 10 Hebrew ↔ 16 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 11 words in this verse.
“to give” occurs 2× in this single verse.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 10 words in this verse.