The king of Egypt, of course, is the Pharaoh of verse 1. Said to them clearly refers to the two men, Moses and Aaron. The Hebrew word order indicates that the king addressed them by name, and most translations include the names within the direct speech. But this is surprising and will seem unnatural in some cultures. Possibly the king was singling them out from a group of elders (3.18). Or perhaps he recognized Moses as a former Egyptian prince, and Aaron as his brother. In order to be more natural, Good News Translation has replaced to them with “to Moses and Aaron,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch removes their names entirely. Good News Translation‘s model will be the more helpful one for many translators. Where the cultural pattern is not violated, however, it is still better to include Moses and Aaron within the quotation marks and allow for various interpretations.

Why do you take the people away from their work? is probably rhetorical, for they had already explained their mission. The why may be rendered, as Good News Translation expresses it, “What do you mean by…,” or even changed to an exclamation, “How dare you…!” (Translator’s Old Testament). The people could refer to a delegation of elders accompanying the two men (3.18), but it probably means all the Israelites in general. Take the people away means “making the people neglect,” or “distracting the people” (New English Bible and others). From their work is literally “from the things they are doing.” So this sentence may be expressed as “How dare you cause the people to stop working.”

Get to your burdens is a command probably addressed to Moses and Aaron and all the Israelites (your is plural). The word for your burdens refers specifically to forced labor, in contrast with their work. Good News Translation‘s “Get those slaves back to work!” suggests that the king did not consider Moses and Aaron to be slaves (unless he was addressing the Egyptian taskmasters instead). It may be interpreted as a simple order to “Get back to work!” or “All of you, get back to work!”

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 .