And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.

And the taskmasters were urgent saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.

And the overseers of the works pressed them, saying: Fulfill your work every day as before you were wont to do when straw was given you.

And the taskmasters urged them, saying, Fulfil your labours, the daily work, as when there was straw.

And the taskmasters were urgent, saying, Fulfill your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.

And the task-masters hastened them, saying, Fulfill your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.

and the exactors are making haste, saying, 'Complete your works, the matter of a day in its day, as when there is straw.'

And the taskmasters hurried them, saying, Fulfill your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.

And the overseers went on driving them and saying, Do your full day's work as before when there were dry stems for you.

And the taskmasters were urgent, saying: 'Fulfil your work, your daily task, as when there was straw.'

The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, 'Fulfill your work quota, your daily amount, as when there was straw.'

Likewise, the overseers of the works pressured them, saying: "Complete your work each day, just as you were accustomed to do before, when straw was given to you."

Et urgebant eos exactores, dicendo, Perficite opera vestra, pensum diei die suo perindee ac si adessent paleae, (vel, sicuti quum erant paleae.)

And the taskmasters hasted them, Kept them tight and close to their work, and were urgent on them to make quick dispatch of it:
saying, fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw; they insisted upon it, that they did the same business at the brickkilns, made the same number of bricks every day, as they used to do when they had straw at hand. See Exodus 5:11.

And the taskmasters hasted them . . . officers . . . beaten--As the nearest fields were bared and the people had to go farther for stubble, it was impossible for them to meet the demand by the usual tale of bricks. "The beating of the officers is just what might have been expected from an Eastern tyrant, especially in the valley of the Nile, as it appears from the monuments, that ancient Egypt, like modern China, was principally governed by the stick" [TAYLOR]. "The mode of beating was by the offender being laid flat on the ground and generally held by the hands and feet while the chastisement was administered" [WILKINSON]. (Deuteronomy 25:2). A picture representing the Hebrews on a brick field, exactly as described in this chapter, was found in an Egyptian tomb at Thebes.

בּיומו יום דּבר, the quantity fixed for every day, "just as when the straw was (there)," i.e., was given out for the work.