Exodus 5:1-7:13

Tree of Life Version

Pharaoh Will Not Let Israel Go

5 Afterward, Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “This is what Adonai, God of Israel, says: Let My people go, so that they may hold a feast for Me in the wilderness.”

² But Pharaoh said, “Who is Adonai, that I should listen to His voice and let Israel go? I do not know Adonai, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”

³ They answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness, so we may sacrifice to Adonai our God, or else He may strike us with pestilence or with the sword.”

⁴ But the king of Egypt said to them, “Why do you, Moses and Aaron, make the people break loose from their work? Go to your labors!” ⁵ Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now so numerous, yet you would have them rest from their labors?”

⁶ Then on the same day Pharaoh commanded the slave masters of the people and their foremen saying, ⁷ “You are not to give the people any more straw to make bricks, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸ But impose on them the quota of bricks that they made previously; don’t reduce it. For they are lazy—that’s why they cry out saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹ Let even heavier work be laid upon the men, so that they must labor, paying no attention to deceptive words.”

¹⁰ Then the slave masters of the people went out, along with their officers, and they spoke to the people saying: “This is what Pharaoh says: I will not give you straw. ¹¹ Go and get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it, for there will be no reduction of your work.” ¹² So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³ But the slave masters pressured, saying, “Fulfill your work, your daily amount, just as when there was straw.” ¹⁴ Moreover the foremen of Bnei-Yisrael, whom Pharaoh’s slave masters had set over them, were beaten and asked, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks, both yesterday and today like before?”

¹⁵ The foremen of Bnei-Yisrael came and cried out to Pharaoh saying, “Why do you deal this way with your servants? ¹⁶ No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ and look, your servants are beaten. But it is your own people at fault.”

¹⁷ But he said, “Lazy! You’re lazy! That’s why you were saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to Adonai.’ ¹⁸ So go now and work! No straw will be given to you—but you must deliver the quota of bricks.”

¹⁹ So the foremen of Bnei-Yisrael saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks from day to day.” ²⁰ Then they met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them as they came from Pharaoh.

²¹ So they said to them, “May Adonai look on you and judge, because you have made us a stench in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants—putting a sword in their hand to kill us!”

²² So Moses returned to Adonai and said, “Adonai, why have You brought evil on these people? Is this why You sent me? ²³ Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, he has brought evil on these people. You have not delivered Your people at all.”

How Will Pharaoh Listen?

6 Adonai said to Moses, “Now you will see what I am going to do to Pharaoh. By way of a strong hand he will let them go, and drive them out of his land.”

Parashat Va’eira

² God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am Adonai. ³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, as El Shaddai. Yet by My Name, Adonai, did I not make Myself known to them. ⁴ I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage where they journeyed. ⁵ Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of Bnei-Yisrael, whom the Egyptians are keeping in bondage. So I have remembered My covenant. ⁶ Therefore say to Bnei-Yisrael: I am Adonai, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ⁷ I will take you to Myself as a people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am Adonai your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸ So I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, and give it to you as an inheritance. I am Adonai.”

⁹ Moses spoke this way to Bnei-Yisrael, but they did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and cruel bondage. ¹⁰ So Adonai told Moses, ¹¹ “Go, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that will he let Bnei-Yisrael go out of his land.”

¹² But Moses said to Adonai, “Bnei-Yisrael have not listened to me. So how would Pharaoh listen to me—I, who have uncircumcised lips?”

¹³ Then Adonai spoke to Moses and to Aaron and gave to them a charge for Bnei-Yisrael and Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring Bnei-Yisrael out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ These are the heads of their father’s houses. The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. ¹⁵ The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the families of Simeon.

¹⁶ These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Levi lived 137 years. ¹⁷ The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimei, according to their families. ¹⁸ The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years. ¹⁹ The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations.

²⁰ Amram married Jochebed, his father’s sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years. ²¹ The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg and Zichri. ²² The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri. ²³ Aaron married Elisheba daughter of Amminadav, sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ²⁴ The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites. ²⁵ Eleazar, Aaron’s son, married one of the daughters of Putiel and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the ancestral houses of the Levites according to their families.

²⁶ These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom Adonai said, “Bring Bnei-Yisrael out from the land of Egypt according to their divisions.” ²⁷ These are the ones that spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring Bnei-Yisrael out from Egypt. These are that same Moses and Aaron. ²⁸ So it happened on the day when Adonai spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹ that Adonai said to Moses, “I am Adonai. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything that I tell to you.” ³⁰ But Moses said to Adonai, “I am of uncircumcised lips, so how would Pharaoh listen to me?”

7 So Adonai said to Moses, “See, I have set you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. ² You are to speak all that I command you and Aaron your brother is to speak to Pharaoh, so that he will let Bnei-Yisrael go out of his land. ³ Yet I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴ But Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will lay My hand upon Egypt, and bring forth My armies, My people Bnei-Yisrael, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. ⁵ The Egyptians will know that I am Adonai, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt, and bring out Bnei-Yisrael from among them.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron did as Adonai commanded them. ⁷ Moses was eighty years old^[a] and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸ Adonai told Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh speaks to you saying, ‘Prove yourselves with a miracle,’ then you are to say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, so that it may become a serpent.’”

¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and did as Adonai had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they too, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts. ¹² For each man threw down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Yet Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. So he did not listen to them—just as Adonai had said.