Go yourselves is literally “You, you go,” in the sense of “You are the ones who must go.” These are still the words of the king addressed to the Israelite workers through the mouths of the taskmasters and foremen (verse 10). Get your straw may be understood as “gather” (New American Bible) or “collect” (New Jerusalem Bible), as suggested in verse 12, but the word for get means to lay hold of, to acquire, without indicating where or how. Your straw means “the straw you will need for making the bricks.” Wherever you can find it does not suggest that it was hidden; it could be out in the fields, or on the threshing floors, or even where others had collected it.

But your work refers to the results of their labor, that is, to the number or quota of bricks they were forced to make. New Jerusalem Bible has “your output,” and Translator’s Old Testament has “the amount you produce.” Will not be lessened in the least therefore means “you must still make the same number of bricks” (Good News Translation). This seems to have been a daily quota. (See verse 14.) This implies that they would now have to work even harder and longer to meet the daily requirement. Another way of expressing this is “but you must still make as many bricks as before” (Contemporary English Version).

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .