Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 5:16

"There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault it in thine own people." — Exodus 5:16 (ASV)

The fault is in your own people. —Hebrew: your people is at fault. There can be no reasonable doubt that this clause is antithetical to the preceding one, and means that, though the Hebrews are punished, the people really at fault are the Egyptians.