Exodus 5:12

12 So the people were dispersed throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

Exodus 5:12 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 5:12

So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of
Egypt
That part of it where they dwelt:

to gather stubble instead of straw;
straw not being easy to come at, they were obliged to gather stubble that was left in the fields, after the corn was gathered in. Ben Melech observes, that the word signifies small straw, or small sticks of wood, and Kimchi ^F13, and if so, this must be to burn the bricks with in the furnaces.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 Sepher Shorash, rad. (vvq) .

Exodus 5:12 In-Context

10 The people's slavemasters went out, their foremen too, and said to the people, "Here is what Pharaoh says: 'I will no longer give you straw.

11 You go, yourselves, and get straw wherever you can find it. But your output is not to be reduced.'"

12 So the people were dispersed throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

13 The slavemasters kept pressing them. "Keep working! Make your daily quota, just as when straw was provided."

14 The foremen of the people of Isra'el, whom Pharaoh's slavemasters had appointed to be over them, were flogged and asked, "Why haven't you fulfilled your quota of bricks yesterday and today, as you did formerly?"