Exodus 5 · Verse 6

Exodus 5:6

And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,
Exodus 5:6, King James Version

Exodus 5:6 in other translations

BSBThat same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen:
WEBThe same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying,
ASVAnd the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,
YLTAnd Pharaoh commandeth, on that day, the exactors among the people and its authorities, saying,
DARBYAnd Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,
BBEThe same day Pharaoh gave orders to the overseers and those who were responsible for the work, saying,
WebsterAnd Pharaoh commanded the same day the task-masters of the people, and their officers, saying,

What does Exodus 5:6 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
6. Pharaoh commanded--It was a natural consequence of the high displeasure created by this interview that he should put additional burdens on the oppressed Israelites. taskmasters--Egyptian overseers, appointed to exact labor of the Israelites. officers--Hebrews placed over their brethren, under the taskmasters, precisely analogous to the Arab officers set over the Arab Fellahs, the poor laborers in modern Egypt.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 6 The task-masters of the people and their officers - The task-masters were Egyptians, (see Clarke on Exo 1:11 (note)), the officers were Hebrews; see Clarke below Exo 5:14 (note). But it is probable that the task-masters Exo 1:11, who are called שרי מסים sarey missim, princes of the burdens or taxes, were different from those termed taskmasters here, as the words are different; נגשים nogesim signifies exactors or oppressors - persons who exacted from them an unreasonable proportion either of labor or money. Officers - שטרים shoterim; those seem to have been an inferior sort of officers, who attended on superior officers or magistrates to execute their orders. They are supposed to have been something like our sheriffs.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Exodus 5:1-9

God will own his people, though poor and despised, and will find a time to plead their cause. Pharaoh treated all he had heard with contempt. He had no knowledge of Jehovah, no fear of him, no love to him, and therefore refused to obey him. Thus Pharaoh's pride, ambition, covetousness, and political knowledge, hardened him to his own destruction. What Moses and Aaron ask is very reasonable, only to go three days'…

Read the full comment on Exodus 5:1-9 →

Exodus 5:6 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיְצַ֥וvay.Tzavand he commandedH6680
פַּרְעֹ֖הpar.'OhPharaohH6547
בַּיּ֣וֹםbai.Yomon the dayH3117
הַה֑וּאha.Hu'<the> thatH1931
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
הַנֹּגְשִׂ֣יםha.no.ge.Simthe taskmastersH5065
בָּעָ֔םba.'Amover the peopleH5971
וְאֶת\־ve.'Etand <obj.>H853
שֹׁטְרָ֖יוsho.te.Ravforemen itsH7860
לֵאמֹֽר\׃le.Mor<to> sayingH559

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Exodus 5:6

  • Exodus 5:19

    And 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.

  • Exodus 5:10

    And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.

  • Joshua 8:33

    And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.

  • 2 Chronicles 26:11

    Moreover Uzziah had an host of fighting men, that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their account by the hand of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains.

  • Joshua 24:4

    And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.

  • Deuteronomy 16:18

    Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.

  • Exodus 3:7

    And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

  • Exodus 5:13-15

    And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore? Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?

  • Numbers 11:16

    And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.

  • Exodus 1:11

    Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

  • Deuteronomy 1:15

    So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.

  • Proverbs 12:10

    A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
taskmasters.{Nogesim,} literally, exactors, oppressors. These taskmasters were Egyptians, (ch. 1:11,) but the officers were Hebrews. See ver. 14.
10,13,15,19; 1:11; Pr 12:10
officers.{Shoterim,} from the Arabic {saytara,} to overlook, superintend, seems to denote, as {musaytar} in Arabic also does, overseers, superintendents. They may have been somewhat like the chiefs of trades, who are found in every city in the East; where every trade has a head, who is entrusted with authority over them, and is in some measure answerable for them to Government. Compare ch. 2:14.
Nu 11:16; De 1:15; 16:18; Jos 8:33; 24:1,4; 2Ch 26:11

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Exodus 5:5

    And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.

  • Exodus 5:6

    And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,

  • Exodus 5:7

    Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.

Read all of Exodus 5

Exodus 5:6 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Y mandó Faraón aquel mismo día á los cuadrilleros del pueblo que le tenían á su cargo, y á sus gobernadores, diciendo:
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Et le Pharaon commanda, ce jour-là, aux exacteurs du peuple et à ses commissaires, disant:
German
Elberfelder 1871
Und der Pharao befahl selbigen Tages den Treibern des Volkes und seinen Vorstehern und sprach:
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Præcepit ergo in die illo præfectis operum et exactoribus populi, dicens: