Shemot 5:12

12 So HaAm were scattered abroad throughout kol Eretz Mitzrayim to gather stubble instead of straw.

Shemot 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) .

Shemot 5:12 In-Context

10 And the nogesim of HaAm went out, and their foremen; they spoke to HaAm, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.

11 Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it; yet not ought of your avodah shall be diminished.

12 So HaAm were scattered abroad throughout kol Eretz Mitzrayim to gather stubble instead of straw.

13 And the nogesim pressed them, saying, Fulfil your ma’asim, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.

14 And the foremen of the Bnei Yisroel, which Pharaoh’s nogesim had set over them, were beaten, and were asked, Why have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today, as heretofore?