Exodus 5:15

Summary

The verse narrates that the foremen appointed over the Israelites went to Pharaoh and cried out to him, asking why he was treating his servants in this manner. It is a direct continuation of the narrative sequence describing the escalating burden placed on the Israelite laborers.

Key words

• sho.te.Rei ("foremen of", H7860) — masculine plural participle in construct form, meaning "the ones who oversee/direct," here bound to the following noun to mean "foremen of [the sons of Israel]."
• yitz.'a.Ku ("they cried out", H6817) — qal narrative form (vav-consecutive imperfect), presenting this action as the direct sequel to the foremen's arrival in verse's first clause.
• par.'Oh ("Pharaoh", H6547J) — proper title, masculine singular, object of the preposition 'el ("to", H0413), marking the recipient of the outcry.
• ta.'a.Seh ("are you doing", H6213A) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular; the imperfect aspect conveys an action seen as ongoing or repeated, not a single completed act.
• 'a.va.Dei.kha ("your servants", H5650 + H9021) — masculine plural noun in construct with the second-person pronominal suffix kha ("your"), identifying the foremen (or the Israelites they represent) as those under Pharaoh's authority.

What the text says

The verse consists of two narrative clauses joined by the vav-consecutive construction, a hallmark of Biblical Hebrew storytelling: va-yavo'u ("and they went", H0935G) followed by va-yitz'aku ("and they cried out", H6817). Both verbs are third-person masculine plural, agreeing with the compound subject shotrei benei Yisra'el ("the foremen of the sons of Israel"), itself built from two nouns in construct chain (H7860 + H1121G) plus the proper name Yisra'el (H3478). This construct chain specifies exactly who acted: not the Israelites in general, but their appointed foremen.

The foremen's speech is introduced by the infinitive le'mor ("saying", H0559), a standard Hebrew device for opening direct discourse. The quoted question begins with the interrogative lamah ("why?", H4100) and uses the qal imperfect ta'aseh ("are you doing", H6213A), which in Biblical Hebrew can indicate an action in progress or repeated rather than a single event — the grammatical form itself allows for the sense of an ongoing practice on Pharaoh's part. The adverb koh ("thus", H3541) points back to the situation just described in the surrounding narrative. The clause closes with la-'avadeikha ("to your servants", H5650 + H9021), where the second-person suffix kha directly addresses Pharaoh, framing the foremen (or those they represent) as his subordinates.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders shotrei ("foremen", H7860) as grammateis ("scribes/officials"), a different administrative term than the Hebrew's participial "overseers." The Vulgate uses praepositi ("those placed in charge"), closer in sense to the Hebrew participle. The LXX's kateboēsan ("they shouted down/against") intensifies the Hebrew yitz'aku ("they cried out") compared to the more neutral tone of the Hebrew and Vulgate's vociferati sunt ("they cried out").