Exodus 5:4 Made Simple

KJV ORIGINAL

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.

Close to the original. Clear modern English.

✦ MADE SIMPLE

The king of Egypt said to them, 'Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Go back to your own jobs!'

⚡ THE BOTTOM LINE

The writer is showing how Pharaoh rejected Moses and Aaron's request and ordered them to stop interfering with the Israelites' forced labor.

📚 Historical Context

This occurs during Moses and Aaron's first meeting with Pharaoh, where they had just asked him to let the Israelites go worship God in the wilderness. Pharaoh saw this as a threat to his free labor force and responded with anger and suspicion. The Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, forced to build cities and monuments for the Egyptian empire.

Explore Similar Verses

Jeremiah 44:12

I'm going to deal with the rest of Judah's people who decided to head to Egypt thinking they'd be safe there. They're all going to be destroyed in Egypt — every single one of them will die from war and starvation, from the smallest child to the most important leader. People will look at what happened to them and be horrified, using their fate as the ultimate example of a curse.

Ezekiel 30:4

War is coming to Egypt, and Ethiopia is going to feel that pain too. People will die in Egypt, everything they built up will get stripped away, and all their foundations — everything they thought was solid — will crumble.

Ezekiel 30:8

They'll finally understand that I'm the LORD when I bring judgment like fire to Egypt and completely take down everyone who was backing them up.

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