The number of bricks is not specified; it refers to the “same quota” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) as that required of them when the straw had been provided for them. Evidently they were forced to make a minimum number of bricks within a certain period of time, possibly by the day or by the week. Heretofore is the same Hebrew idiom used in verse 7 and may again be rendered as “as they have been making up to now [or, before today].” You shall lay upon them refers to the number, not to the bricks. It means: “you shall levy upon them” (New American Bible), or “you will exact from them” (New Jerusalem Bible), “impose upon them” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or more naturally, “require them to make the same number of bricks as before” (Good News Translation), or even, “You must force them to make….” Some receptor languages have pronouns for third person that range from polite to insulting; they should use one in this context that refers to the Israelites as lowly people. This will help to show the king’s contempt for the Israelite slaves. You shall by no means lessen it is literally “you shall not reduce from them,” that is, from the bricks. This clause, along with the word order in the Hebrew, gives strong emphasis to the command. Hence “not one brick less” (Good News Translation) is a dynamic way of expressing it in English.

For they are idle is a reason clause that goes either with what has just been said or with what follows, perhaps both. But the use of the semicolon (;) both before and after (Revised Standard Version) is not recommended. It is better to begin a new sentence and relate this to what follows. The word idle is sarcastic and should not be understood as “not working” but as “not working enough.” Hence “They don’t have enough work to do” (Good News Translation) or “They are lazy” (New American Bible and others). It is better to use an equivalent of lazy, for the Good News Translation rendering suggests that their not having enough work to do was the fault of someone else. Other possible English terms are “indolent,” “shiftless,” or “slothful.” What the Pharaoh is implying is that the Israelites simply did not want to work hard.

Therefore they cry is a result clause that follows logically from the idea that the Israelite slaves are “lazy.” The word for cry here means to call out in the sense of “clamouring” (New English Bible). It introduces a direct quote in the form of a request or demand from the king himself. It is persistent and may be understood as “they keep asking me” (Good News Translation), or “they keep crying out [or, clamoring], asking me,” or even “… and begging me.” (The same word is used in 2.23 and 3.7 as a desperate cry to God for help.)

Let us go and offer sacrifice may have been a rallying slogan among the people, but as a strong request it was addressed to the king, and the us is exclusive. It echoes the request made by Moses and Aaron in 5.3 (though without the polite marker) and probably identifies two distinct actions: go (“into the wilderness” is understood; so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) and offer sacrifice. Offer sacrifice is one word in the Hebrew, identical with 3.18 (see the comment there), where Revised Standard Version has “that we may sacrifice.” (New American Bible has “Let us go to offer sacrifices,” since the and is not in the Hebrew. The plural “sacrifices” in Good News Translation, however, is not explicit.)

To our God must also use the exclusive our if the direct quote is retained. Changing to indirect speech is also possible (“to their God!” as in Good News Translation), but it may create another problem. For example, in some languages a distinction must be made between the word for God as the one true God (capitalized in English) and a word for the supposed gods of other cultures. The text does not make such a distinction. Hence New English Bible‘s “to their god” (lower case) more accurately reflects in English the king’s understanding, but in other languages, to use a word for a supposed god or idol would be a mistranslation.

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 .