1
And afterwards Moses and Aaron came , and said to Pharaoh , Thus said Jehovah the God of Israel , Let My people go , that they may celebrate to Me in the wilderness .
2
And Pharaoh said , Who is Jehovah , whose voice I should hear , to let Israel go ? I know not Jehovah , and also I will not let Israel go .
3
And they said , The God of the Hebrews has come* upon us ; let us go , we pray◦ thee, a way of three days into the wilderness , and let us sacrifice to Jehovah our God ; lest He fall··upon us with the pestilence , or with the sword .
4
And the king of Egypt said to them, Why do you, Moses and Aaron , make· the people ·lax from their works ◦? Go ye to your burdens◦.
5
And Pharaoh said , Behold the people of the land are now many , and you have made them cease from their burdens◦.
6
And Pharaoh commanded in that◦ day the taskmasters among◦ the people, and his officers, saying,
7
You shall not again give the people straw to make the bricks*, as yesterday and the day··before◦; they◦ will go and gather··up straw for themselves.
8
And the fixed··measure of the bricks which they made yesterday and the day before, you shall set on them; you shall not diminish from it; for they slacken; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God .
9
Let the service be made··heavy on the men◦, and let them do it; and let them not regard the false words .
10
And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they said to the people, saying, Thus said Pharaoh , I will by no means give you straw .
11
Go ye yourselves, get you straw where you can find it; for nothing whatever shall be diminished from your service .
12
And the people scattered into all the land of Egypt to pick··up stubble for straw .
13
And the taskmasters insisted , saying, Complete ye your deeds, the word of a day in its day , as when there was straw .
14
And the officers of the sons of Israel were smitten , whom the taskmasters of Pharaoh had set over them, saying, Wherefore do you not complete your stated task in making brick, as yesterday and the day ··before◦, also yesterday, also today ?
15
And the officers of the sons of Israel came and cried to▵ Pharaoh , saying, Why doest thou thus to thy servants ?
16
There is no straw given to thy servants , and they say to us , Make ye bricks; and behold thy servants are smitten ; and thy people have sinned.
17
And he said , You◦ are slack, you are slack; therefore you◦ say , Let us go and sacrifice to Jehovah .
18
And now go , serve ye, and straw shall not be given you, and the fixed··measure of bricks you shall give .
19
And the officers of the sons of Israel saw themselves in evil , saying, You shall not diminish from your bricks, the word of the day in its day .
20
And they came··upon Moses and Aaron standing··up to meet them when they went··out from Pharaoh .
21
And they said to▵ them, Jehovah shall look ◦ upon you, and judge , because you have made our smell to stink in the eyes of Pharaoh , and in the eyes of his servants , to give a sword into their hand to kill us .
22
And Moses returned to Jehovah , and said , Lord , why hast Thou done··evil to this people? Why is this that Thou hast sent me?
23
And since I came to▵ Pharaoh to speak in Thy name , he has done··evil to this people; and rescuing Thou hast not rescued Thy people.