Ash-Shu'araa (The Poets)

54. “Verily these (Israelites) are only a small group,”

55. “And verily they have enraged us.”

56. “And verily we are a host on our guard.”

The Qur’anic word /šir immah/ means a limited group which is separated from the main.¹ Pharaoh propagated that his opponents were a small group. But in some commentaries we read that it is narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas that those who were with Moses (as) were about 600000 and Pharaoh called these many people as ‘a little troop’.

He said:

“Verily these (Israelites) are only a small group,”

To make people psychologically ready for this general mobilization, Pharaoh ordered his own men to declare this announcement that his opponents were a small group. (He meant they are quantitatively less than Pharaoh's men and less powerful than them.)

So they said to themselves that, with their strong power, there was no problem and nothing to fear of and they could certainly be victorious.

In the next verse, they implicitly said that how much they could be patient, and in what extent they might conciliate with those rebellious slaves.

It says:

“And verily they have enraged us.”

Pharaoh’s men could not tolerate them (slaves) anymore, yet they said: Who would irrigate farms of Egypt the following days? Who would mend the houses of Pharaoh’s men? Who would carry heavy things in this vast country? Who would be servant of the men of Pharaoh?

In the next verse it says:

“And verily we are a host on our guard.”

They mean that they were ready to fight Moses’ (as) people anytime and anywhere, for they feared the conspiracy of this group.