Keraia
Exodus 5

Exodus 5:4

Pharaoh’s First Refusal · Exodus 5:1–5
Read Exodus 5

Translations

Modern
But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labor!”
Traditional
And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.
Literal
And the king of Egypt said to them, “Why, Moses and Aaron, do you loosen the people from their works? Go to your burdens.”
Latin
Ait ad eos rex Ægypti: Quare Moyses et Aaron sollicitatis populum ab operibus suis? ite ad onera vestra.

Original

Hebrew
English
But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labor!”

Notes

Exodus 5:4–5

It seems that the people expected the freedom God had promised. Because of this, they stopped their work.

Exodus 5:1–14

Pharaoh not only rejected the request of Moses to release the Hebrew slaves, he also retaliated by making their work harder. The arrival of the rescuer had actually made the situation worse.

Exodus 4:29–7:7

In this section, the Lord promised to rescue the Israelites. He said that he would bring them out of slavery.

At first, the people responded in a positive way. They believed what God said. However, later they faced a crisis of faith. They began to doubt God’s promise and struggled to trust him.

People

Aaron: Moses' brother, first high priest of Israel Moses: Prophet who led Israel out of Egypt

Places

Egypt: Ancient nation; Israelites enslaved there; plagues and Exodus

Glossary

Aaron Book of Exodus Deuteronomy, Book of

Topics

Egypt: Israel in Pharaoh Increases Their Affliction