Exodus 5

¹And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh: Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel: Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.

²Pharaoh said: Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go.

³And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go, please, a journey of three days into the wilderness, and let us sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with sword.

⁴And the king of Egypt said to them, Moses and Aaron, why do you cause the people to let go of their works? Go to your burdens.

⁵And Pharaoh said, Look — the people of the land are now many, and you would cause them to cease from their burdens.

⁶And Pharaoh commanded on that same day the taskmasters over the people and their officers, saying:

⁷You shall no longer give straw to the people to make bricks as before — they themselves shall go and gather straw for themselves.

⁸And the quota of bricks that they were making previously you shall impose on them — you shall not diminish from it, for they are slack; that is why they are crying out saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.

⁹Let the work be heavy upon the men, and let them labor at it; and let them not pay attention to false words.

¹⁰And the taskmasters of the people and their officers went out and said to the people, saying: Thus says Pharaoh: I am not giving straw to you all.

¹¹You — go, get yourselves straw from wherever you can find it, for nothing will be reduced from the work of you all — not a word.

¹²And the people scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

¹³The taskmasters were pressing them, saying: Complete your work, the daily quota, just as when there was straw.

¹⁴And the officers of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, saying: Why have you not completed your quota of bricks as before — both yesterday and today?

¹⁵Then the foremen of the sons of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying: Why are you treating your servants this way?

¹⁶Straw is not given to your servants, and they say to us: Make bricks! And behold, your servants are being beaten, and the fault is with your own people.

¹⁷He said: Idle — you are idle! That is why you say: Let us go, let us sacrifice to the Lord.

¹⁸And now, go, serve, and straw will not be given to you all, yet the quota of bricks you all must deliver.

¹⁹And the officers of the sons of Israel saw that they were in a bad situation, saying: You shall not diminish anything from your daily quota of bricks.

²⁰They met Moses and Aaron, who were standing there to meet them as they came out from Pharaoh.

²¹And they said to them, 'May the LORD look upon you and judge, for you have made our odor stink in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants, by putting a sword in their hand to kill us.'

²²Moses returned to the Lord and said: My Lord, why have you brought harm on this people? Why is this why you sent me?

²³For ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought harm on this people, and you have not delivered them at all.