Exodus 1:14

Bible in Basic English (1941)

And made their lives bitter with hard work, making building-material and bricks, and doing all sorts of work in the fields under the hardest conditions.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיְמָרְר֨וּ אֶת־חַיֵּיהֶ֜ם בַּעֲבֹדָ֣ה קָשָׁ֗ה בְּחֹ֙מֶר֙ וּבִלְבֵנִ֔ים וּבְכָל־עֲבֹדָ֖ה בַּשָּׂדֶ֑ה אֵ֚ת כָּל־עֲבֹ֣דָתָ֔ם אֲשֶׁר־עָבְד֥וּ בָהֶ֖ם בְּפָֽרֶךְ׃

Transliteration

And way-mārərû ʾet-ḥayyêhem in ʿăḇōdâ qāšâ with ḥōmer and with ləḇēnîm and with all ʿăḇōdâ in the śādeh ʾēt all ʿăḇōdātām which ʿāḇədû with them with pāreḵ

Grammar Details

• וַיְמָרְר֨וּ: conjunction *wə-* + verb, Piel imperfect, 3rd masculine plural, vav-consecutive - 'and they made bitter'
• אֶת־חַיֵּיהֶ֜ם: direct object marker + noun, masculine plural + 3rd masculine plural suffix - 'their lives'
• בַּעֲבֹדָ֣ה: preposition + noun, feminine singular - 'with labor'
• *qāšâ*: adjective, feminine singular - 'hard'
• בְּחֹ֙מֶר֙: preposition + noun, masculine singular - 'with mortar'
• וּבִלְבֵנִ֔ים: conjunction *wə-* + preposition + noun, feminine plural - 'and with bricks'
• וּבְכָל־עֲבֹדָ֖ה: conjunction *wə-* + preposition + noun, feminine singular - 'and with all labor'
• בַּשָּׂדֶ֑ה: preposition + definite article + noun, masculine singular - 'in the field'
• אֵ֚ת: direct object marker
• כָּל־עֲבֹ֣דָתָ֔ם: construct + noun, feminine singular + 3rd masculine plural suffix - 'all their labor'
• אֲשֶׁר־עָבְד֥וּ: relative pronoun + verb, Qal perfect, 3rd masculine plural - 'which they worked'
• בָהֶ֖ם: preposition + 3rd masculine plural suffix - 'with them'
• בְּפָֽרֶךְ: preposition + noun, masculine singular - 'with rigor'

Word Meanings

• *way-mārərû*: they made bitter, embittered
• *ḥayyêhem*: their lives, their existence
• *ʿăḇōdâ*: labor, service, work, servitude
• *qāšâ*: hard, harsh, severe, cruel
• *ḥōmer*: mortar, clay, cement
• *ləḇēnîm*: bricks
• *śādeh*: field, country, open land
• *ʿăḇōdātām*: their service, their labor, their work
• *ʿāḇədû*: they worked, served, labored
• *pāreḵ*: rigor, harshness, cruelty

Referenced Verses

• Exod 2:23 : 23 Now after a long time the king of Egypt came to his end: and the children of Israel were crying in their grief under the weight of their work, and their cry for help came to the ears of God.
• Exod 6:9 : 9 And Moses said these words to the children of Israel, but they gave no attention to him, because of the grief of their spirit and the cruel weight of their work.
• Num 20:15 : 15 How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we were living in Egypt for a long time; and the Egyptians were cruel to us and to our fathers:
• Acts 7:19 : 19 He, having evil designs against our nation, was cruel to our fathers, and they were forced to put out their young children, so that they might not go on living.
• Acts 7:34 : 34 Truly, I have seen the sorrows of my people in Egypt, and their cries have come to my ears, and I have come down to make them free: and now, come, I will send you to Egypt.
• Ps 81:6 : 6 I took the weight from his back; his hands were made free from the baskets.
• Isa 14:6 : 6 He whose rod was on the peoples with an unending wrath, ruling the nations in passion, with an uncontrolled rule.
• Isa 51:23 : 23 And I will put it into the hand of your cruel masters, and of those whose yoke has been hard on you; who have said to your soul, Down on your face! so that we may go over you: and you have given your backs like the earth, even like the street, for them to go over.
• Isa 52:5 : 5 Now then, what have I here? says the Lord, for my people are taken away without cause; they are made waste and give cries of sorrow, says the Lord, and all the day the nations put shame on my name.
• Isa 58:6 : 6 Is not this the holy day for which I have given orders: to let loose those who have wrongly been made prisoners, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the crushed go free, and every yoke be broken?
• Jer 50:33-34 : 33 This is what the Lord of armies has said: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are crushed down together: all those who took them prisoner keep them in a tight grip; they will not let them go. 34 Their saviour is strong; the Lord of armies is his name: he will certainly take up their cause, so that he may give rest to the earth and trouble to the people of Babylon.
• Mic 3:3 : 3 Like meat they take the flesh of my people for their food, skinning them and crushing their bones, yes, cutting them up as if for the pot, like flesh inside the cooking-pot.
• Nah 3:14 : 14 Get water for the time when you are shut in, make strong your towns: go into the potter's earth, stamping it down with your feet, make strong the brickworks.
• Exod 20:2 : 2 I am the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house.
• Lev 25:43 : 43 Do not be a hard master to him, but have the fear of God before you.
• Lev 25:46 : 46 And they will be your children's heritage after you, to keep as their property; they will be your servants for ever; but you may not be hard masters to your countrymen, the children of Israel.
• Lev 25:53 : 53 And he will be with him as a servant working for payment year by year; his master is not to be cruel to him before your eyes.
• Exod 5:7-9 : 7 Give these men no more dry stems for their brick-making as you have been doing; let them go and get the material for themselves. 8 But see that they make the same number of bricks as before, and no less: for they have no love for work; and so they are crying out and saying, Let us go and make an offering to our God. 9 Give the men harder work, and see that they do it; let them not give attention to false words. 10 And the overseers of the people and their responsible men went out and said to the people, Pharaoh says, I will give you no more dry stems. 11 Go yourselves and get dry stems wherever you are able; for your work is not to be any less. 12 So the people were sent in all directions through the land of Egypt to get dry grass for stems. 13 And the overseers went on driving them and saying, Do your full day's work as before when there were dry stems for you. 14 And the responsible men of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's overseers had put over them, were given blows, and they said to them, Why have you not done your regular work, in making bricks as before? 15 Then the responsible men of the children of Israel came to Pharaoh, protesting and saying, Why are you acting in this way to your servants? 16 They give us no dry stems and they say to us, Make bricks: and they give your servants blows; but it is your people who are in the wrong. 17 But he said, You have no love for work: that is why you say, Let us go and make an offering to the Lord. 18 Go now, get back to your work; no dry stems will be given to you, but you are to make the full number of bricks. 19 Then the responsible men of the children of Israel saw that they were purposing evil when they said, The number of bricks which you have to make every day will be no less than before. 20 And they came face to face with Moses and Aaron, who were in their way when they came out from Pharaoh: 21 And they said to them, May the Lord take note of you and be your judge; for you have given Pharaoh and his servants a bad opinion of us, putting a sword in their hands for our destruction.
• Gen 15:13 : 13 And he said to Abram, Truly, your seed will be living in a land which is not theirs, as servants to a people who will be cruel to them for four hundred years;
• Exod 1:13 : 13 And they gave the children of Israel even harder work to do:
• Deut 4:20 : 20 But the Lord has taken you out of the flaming fire, out of Egypt, to be to him the people of his heritage, as you are today.
• Deut 26:6 : 6 And the Egyptians were cruel to us, crushing us under a hard yoke:
• Ruth 1:20 : 20 And she said to them, Do not let my name be Naomi, but Mara, for the Ruler of all has given me a bitter fate.
• Ps 68:13 : 13 Will you take your rest among the flocks? like the wings of a dove covered with silver, and its feathers with yellow gold.