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Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may hold a festival to Me in the wilderness’.”
2 But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.”
3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”
4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get back to your work!” 5 Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.”
6 That same day Pharaoh commanded the slave drivers and foremen in charge of the people: 7 “You are to no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. They must go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But require them to make same number of bricks as before; you must not reduce the quota. These people are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God’. 9 Make the men work harder, so they keep working and pay no attention to deceptive words.”
10 So the slave drivers and the foremen of the people went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. 11 Go and get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it, but your workload will not be reduced at all’.” 12 So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 Yet the slave drivers continued to press them hard, saying, “Complete the work required from you each day, as when you were supplied with straw.” 14 Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s slave drivers had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why haven’t you finished making your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”
15 So the Israelite foremen went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way? 16 No straw is being supplied to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but it is your own people who are at fault.”
17 But Pharaoh replied, “You are lazy! Lazy! That is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord’. 18 Now get to work. No straw will be given to you, but you must still produce the same number of bricks.”
19 The Israelite foremen knew they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the daily number of bricks required of you.”
20 When they left Pharaoh, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who were waiting to meet them. 21 They said to them, “May the Lord look upon you and judge! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials, and have put a sword in Pharaoh’s hand to kill us.”
22 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all.”