We have explained in our article Biblical Formatting located on the world wide web at http://www.Rashiyomi.com/biblicalformatting.pdf, that the Biblical Author indicates bold, italics, underline by using repetition. In other words if a modern author wanted to emphasize a word they would either underline, bold or italicize it. However when the Biblical author wishes to emphasize a word He repeats it. The effect - whether thru repetition or using underline - is the same. It is only the means of conveying this emphasis that is different.

With this in mind let us examine verse Ex05-12a discussing the work burden that the Egyptians imposed on the Jews: So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to stubble stubble for straw. Rashi comments on the repeatition to stubble stubble. To properly understand Rashi we proceed in two stages.

First: We recall the grammatical principle that nouns can become verbs. Examples are plentiful: to flower, to hammer, to dust.... Hence to stubble would be a verb form indicating the act of acquiring stubble.

Next: Rashi explains the repetition: The act of gathering stubble is not an ordinary act of gathering. Rather, it is a gathering of dispersed material since stubble tends to be dispersed.

Combining the above analysis we see the following inferred from the repetition: The Egyptians imposed a double burden on the Jews:
• They increased the quantity of stubble that they must acquire
• The act of acquiring the stubble was itself burdensome since the Jews had to gather the stubble from dispersed locations.