Exodus 5:18

Summary

This verse records a command issued to the Israelites (in the narrative context, by Pharaoh or his officials): they are to go and work, straw will not be supplied to them, yet they must still deliver the fixed quantity of bricks. The sentence contrasts a withdrawn provision with an unchanged demand.

Key words

• lekhu ("go", H1980G) — qal imperative, masculine plural: a direct command addressed to a group, marking the start of the order.
• 'ivdu ("work", H5647G) — qal imperative, masculine plural: paired with lekhu, forming a double command ("go, work") without a connecting conjunction between them.
• yinnaten ("it will be given", H5414G) — niphal imperfect, third masculine singular: the passive form removes the agent; the text does not grammatically state who withholds the straw, only that "straw will not be given."
• token ("[the] measurement of", H8506) — masculine singular construct noun: grammatically bound to levenim ("bricks", H3843), forming the construct phrase "measurement of bricks," i.e., a fixed quota.
• titenu ("you will give", H5414G) — qal imperfect, masculine plural: active voice, contrasting with the passive yinnaten used for the straw — here the addressees themselves are the grammatical subject who must produce the quota.

What the text says

The verse opens with ve-'attah ("and now", H9002 + H6258), a temporal marker that shifts from prior discourse to a present command. It is followed by two consecutive imperatives, lekhu ("go") and 'ivdu ("work"), placed side by side without an intervening conjunction in the sequence "go, work," giving the instruction an abrupt, stacked quality.

The next clause pivots on a grammatical contrast between two verb forms built from the same root H5414 ("to give"): yinnaten, a niphal (passive) imperfect, describing straw as something "not given" without naming who fails to give it; and titenu, a qal (active) imperfect, placing the addressees themselves as the ones who "will give" the brick quota. This voice alternation — passive for what is withheld, active for what is demanded — structures the verse's central tension between a removed resource and an unchanged output requirement. The construct phrase token levenim ("measurement of bricks") ties the quantity noun directly to "bricks," indicating a fixed, expected tally rather than an open-ended amount.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders token ("measurement of", H8506) as syntaxis ("the assessed amount/tax"), and uses apodōsete ("you will render back/pay off") for titenu, a compound verb with a "return/repay" nuance not present in the simple Hebrew qal "give." The Vulgate's reddetis consuetum numerum ("you will render the customary/usual number") introduces the idea of a "customary" quantity via consuetum, a specification not explicit in the Hebrew construct phrase token levenim, which states only "measurement of bricks" without indicating whether this quota was previously established as customary.