Exodus 5:6–14

⁶And on that day Pharaoh commanded the slave drivers over the people and his foremen, saying, ⁷“You must no longer give straw to the people to make the bricks like before.^d Let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸But the quota of the bricks that they were making before^e you must require of them.^f You must not reduce from it, because they are lazy. Therefore they are crying out, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹Let the work be heavier on the men so that they will do it and not pay attention to words of deception.”

¹⁰And the slave drivers of the people and their foremen went out, and they spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I am not giving you straw. ¹¹You go, get straw for yourselves from whatever you find because not a thing is being reduced from your work.’ ” ¹²And the people spread out in all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for the straw. ¹³And the slave drivers were insisting, saying, “Finish your work for each day^g on its day, as when there was straw.”^{h 14}And the foremen of the Israelites,ⁱ whom Pharaoh’s slave drivers had appointed over them, were beaten by men who were saying, “Why have you not completed your portion of brickmaking as before, both yesterday and today?”^j