Exodus 5:6–14

Pharaoh Increases the Israelites’ Labor

⁶That same day Pharaoh gave these orders to the slave drivers and foremen: ⁷“Don’t give the people any more straw to make bricks as you have been doing. Let them gather their own straw, ⁸but insist that they make the same number of bricks they were making before. Making fewer bricks will not be acceptable. They’re lazy! That’s why they’re crying, ‘Let us go offer sacrifices to our God.’ ⁹Make the work harder for these people so that they will be too busy to listen to lies.” 

¹⁰The slave drivers and foreman went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says: I’m no longer giving you straw. ¹¹Get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work load will not be reduced one bit.” 

¹²So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³The slave drivers kept hurrying them. They said, “Finish the same amount of work each day, just as when you had straw.” 

¹⁴Pharaoh’s slave drivers had placed Israelite foremen in charge of the people. The slave drivers beat the foremen and said, “You didn’t finish all the bricks you were ordered to make yesterday or today. Why didn’t you make as many as you used to?”