Commentary for Exodus 5:16
תֶּ֗בֶן אֵ֤ין נִתָּן֙ לַעֲבָדֶ֔יךָ וּלְבֵנִ֛ים אֹמְרִ֥ים לָ֖נוּ עֲשׂ֑וּ וְהִנֵּ֧ה עֲבָדֶ֛יךָ מֻכִּ֖ים וְחָטָ֥את עַמֶּֽךָ׃
There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us: Make brick; and, behold, thy servants are beaten, but the fault is in thine own people.’
Rashi on Exodus
ולבנים אמרים לנו AND BRICKS THEY — the taskmasters — SAY TO US עשו MAKE, just as the former number.
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Rashbam on Exodus
תבן אין נתם, again we encounter this construction with the vowel kametz, making the word a past participle of the passive, i.e. “available.” The same word in Kohelet 10,6 in the line נתן הסכל במרומים, spelled with the vowel patach under the letter ת, is in a passive mode of the verb נתן, meaning “folly has been placed on lofty heights.”
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Sforno on Exodus
והנה עבדיך מוכים וחטאת עמך, we are the ones who are being beaten and the sinful people beating us are all we who are members of your people. It is up to you to take note of this and to intervene.
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