Exodus 1:14

Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor, the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

📖 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

Other Translations

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

• KJV1611 – Modern English

  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, which they made them serve, was with rigor.

• King James Version 1611 (Original)

  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, wherein they made them serve with rigor.

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

• Tyndale Bible (1526/1534)

  and made their lyues bitter vnto them with cruell laboure in claye and bricke, and all maner worke in the feldes, and in all maner of service, which they caused the to worke cruelly

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  and made their lyues bytter vnto them with greuous laboure in claye and brycke, and with allmaner of bondage in ye felde, and with allmaner of laboure, which they layed vpon them without mercy.

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  Thus they made them weary of their liues by sore labour in clay & in bricke, & in al worke in the fielde, with all maner of bondage, which they layde vpon them most cruelly.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  And they made their lyues bytter vnto them in that cruell bondage, in claye, and bricke, and all maner of worke in the fielde: for all their bondage wherein they serued them was ful of tirannie.

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, [was] with rigour.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  and make their lives bitter in hard service, in clay, and in brick, and in every `kind' of service in the field; all their service in which they have served `is' with rigour.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, wherein they made them serve with rigor.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, wherein they made them serve with rigor.

• 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.

• World English Bible (2000)

  and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  They made their lives bitter by hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous.

Referenced Verses

• Exod 2:23 : 23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery rose up to God.
• Exod 6:9 : 9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh slavery.
• Num 20:15 : 15 Our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived there for a long time. But the Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors.
• Acts 7:19 : 19 This king dealt deceitfully with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to abandon their infants, so they would not survive.
• Acts 7:34 : 34 'I have surely seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning. I have come down to rescue them. Now come, I will send you to Egypt.'
• Ps 81:6 : 6 He established it as a decree for Joseph when he went out against the land of Egypt, where I heard a language I did not understand.
• Isa 14:6 : 6 which struck the nations in anger with unending blows, that subdued the nations in wrath, with relentless persecution.
• Isa 51:23 : 23 I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, 'Bow down so we can walk over you.' You made your back like the ground, like a street for them to walk over.
• Isa 52:5 : 5 And now, what do I have here? declares the LORD. My people have been taken away for nothing, and their rulers mock, declares the LORD. And all day long, my name is constantly blasphemed.
• Isa 58:6 : 6 Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loosen the chains of injustice, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to break every yoke?
• Jer 50:33-34 : 33 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: The people of Israel and the people of Judah are oppressed together. All their captors hold them fast and refuse to let them go. 34 But their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of Hosts is His name. He will vigorously defend their cause to bring rest to the land but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.
• Mic 3:3 : 3 You eat the flesh of my people, strip off their skin, break their bones, and chop them up like meat for the pot, like flesh in a cauldron.
• Nah 3:14 : 14 Draw water for the siege, strengthen your fortresses. Go into the clay and tread the mortar; take hold of the brick mold.
• Exod 20:2 : 2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
• Lev 25:43 : 43 Do not rule over them harshly, but fear your God.
• Lev 25:46 : 46 You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites harshly.
• Lev 25:53 : 53 They are to be treated as a yearly hired worker while with their buyer, and they must not be ruled over harshly in your sight.
• Exod 5:7-9 : 7 "You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. 8 But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don't reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, 'Let us go and offer sacrifices to our God.' 9 Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies." 10 So the slave drivers and overseers went out and said to the people, "This is what Pharaoh says: 'I will not give you any straw.' 11 "Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all." 12 So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. 13 The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, "Complete the work required of you each day, just as when you had straw." 14 And Pharaoh's slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, "Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?" 15 Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: "Why are you treating your servants this way?" 16 "No straw is given to your servants, yet we are told, 'Make bricks!' Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people." 17 Pharaoh said, "Lazy! That’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.' 18 "Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks." 19 The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told, "You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you each day." 20 When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, 21 They said to them, "May the Lord see and judge you, because you have made us obnoxious in the eyes of Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us."
• Gen 15:13 : 13 The LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be foreigners in a land not their own, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years."
• Exod 1:13 : 13 The Egyptians forced the Israelites to work as slaves.
• Deut 4:20 : 20 But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of His inheritance, as you are today.
• Deut 26:6 : 6 But the Egyptians mistreated us, oppressed us, and subjected us to harsh labor.
• Ruth 1:20 : 20 She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.
• Ps 68:13 : 13 Kings of armies flee—they flee! And the woman at home divides the spoil.