Exodus 5:10

Summary

The verse narrates that the taskmasters and foremen in charge of the Israelite people went out and delivered a message to the people, quoting Pharaoh's declaration that he will no longer provide them with straw.

Key words

• no.ge.Sei ("taskmasters of", H5065) — masculine plural participle in construct state, meaning "the ones who drive/oppress," here identifying the officials by their function over "the people."
• Sho.te.Ra ("foremen", H7860) — masculine plural participle in construct with a possessive suffix va ("his/its"), literally "its foremen," referring to officials under the same authority as the taskmasters.
• 'ei.Ne.ni ("I am not", H0369 + H9040) — a negative existential particle in construct form with the first-person suffix, producing an emphatic "there is no I" construction that functions as "I am not" before the participle.
• no.Ten ("giving", H5414G) — masculine singular participle, expressing an ongoing or present-tense action ("am giving"), paired with the negative particle to state Pharaoh's continuing refusal.
• koh ("thus", H3541) — adverb introducing direct quoted speech, functioning like a formal messenger-formula ("thus says X").

What the text says

The verse opens with a narrative vav on va-yetze'u ("and they went out", H3318G), establishing sequential action: the taskmasters and foremen first go out, then speak. The subject is doubled through two construct participles, no.ge.Sei and Sho.te.Ra, both governing "the people" ('am, H5971A) as their object of oversight — one group termed "drivers," the other "foremen," joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002) and further specified by the possessive suffix on Sho.te.Ra ("its foremen").

The report itself is framed by the formula koh 'amar Par'oh ("thus he says, Pharaoh", H3541 + H0559 + H6547J), using the perfect verb 'amar to present Pharaoh's statement as an already-completed utterance now being relayed. Within the quotation, the negative existential 'ei.Ne.ni combines with the active participle no.Ten to express a present, ongoing negation — "I am not [in the state of] giving" — rather than a simple negated past or future verb, emphasizing the continuing nature of the refusal at the moment of speaking.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the two Hebrew titles no.ge.Sei and Sho.te.Ra as οἱ ἐργοδιῶκται ("the taskmasters/work-drivers") and οἱ γραμματεῖς ("the scribes/secretaries"), where the Hebrew Sho.te.Ra more literally denotes "foremen" or "officials" without the specific connotation of scribal duty. The Vulgate uses præfecti operum ("overseers of works") and exactores ("collectors/enforcers"), a similar administrative pairing but distinct from the LXX's "scribes." The Hebrew negative construction 'ei.Ne.ni no.Ten ("I am not giving") appears in the LXX as οὐκέτι δίδωμι ("I no longer give"), adding a temporal nuance of cessation not explicit in the Hebrew's simple present negation.