Exodus 5

¹And afterwards have Moses and Aaron entered, and they say unto Pharaoh, ‘Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Send My people away, and they keep a feast to Me in the wilderness;’ ²and Pharaoh saith, ‘Who is Jehovah, that I hearken to His voice, to send Israel away? I have not known Jehovah, and Israel also I do not send away.’

³And they say, ‘The God of the Hebrews hath met with us, let us go, we pray thee, a journey of three days into the wilderness, and we sacrifice to Jehovah our God, lest He meet us with pestilence or with sword.’ ⁴And the king of Egypt saith unto them, ‘Why, Moses and Aaron, do ye free the people from its works? go to your burdens.’ ⁵Pharaoh also saith, ‘Lo, numerous now is the people of the land, and ye have caused them to cease from their burdens!’ ⁶And Pharaoh commandeth, on that day, the exactors among the people and its authorities, saying, ⁷‘Ye do not add to give straw to the people for the making of the bricks, as heretofore—they go and have gathered straw for themselves; ⁸and the proper quantity of the bricks which they are making heretofore ye do put on them, ye do not diminish from it, for they are remiss, therefore they are crying, saying, Let us go, let us sacrifice to our God; ⁹let the service be heavy on the men, and let them work at it, and not be dazzled by lying words.’

¹⁰And the exactors of the people, and its authorities, go out, and speak unto the people, saying, ‘Thus said Pharaoh, I do not give you straw, ¹¹ye—go ye, take for yourselves straw where ye find it, for there is nothing of your service diminished.’ ¹²And the people is scattered over all the land of Egypt, to gather stubble for straw, ¹³and the exactors are making haste, saying, ‘Complete your works, the matter of a day in its day, as when there is straw.’ ¹⁴And the authorities of the sons of Israel, whom the exactors of Pharaoh have placed over them, are beaten, saying, ‘Wherefore have ye not completed your portion in making brick as heretofore, both yesterday and to-day?’

¹⁵And the authorities of the sons of Israel come in and cry unto Pharaoh, saying, ‘Why dost thou thus to thy servants? ¹⁶Straw is not given to thy servants, and they are saying to us, Make bricks, and lo, thy servants are smitten—and thy people hath sinned.’ ¹⁷And he saith, ‘Remiss—ye are remiss, therefore ye are saying, Let us go, let us sacrifice to Jehovah; ¹⁸and now, go, serve; and straw is not given to you, and the measure of bricks ye do give.’ ¹⁹And the authorities of the sons of Israel see them in affliction, saying, ‘Ye do not diminish from your bricks; the matter of a day in its day.’ ²⁰And they meet Moses and Aaron standing to meet them, in their coming out from Pharaoh, ²¹and say unto them, ‘Jehovah look upon you, and judge, because ye have caused our fragrance to stink in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants—to give a sword into their hand to slay us.’ ²²And Moses turneth back unto Jehovah, and saith, ‘Lord, why hast Thou done evil to this people? why is this?—Thou hast sent me! ²³and since I have come unto Pharaoh, to speak in Thy name, he hath done evil to this people, and Thou hast not at all delivered Thy people.’

Chapter 6