Exodus 5
Lexham English Bible
Pharaoh Rejects Yahweh’s Authority and Makes Israel’s Troubles Worse
5 And afterward, Moses and Aaron went, and they said to Pharaoh, “Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, ‘Release my people so that they may hold a festival for me in the desert.’” 2 And Pharaoh said, “Who is Yahweh that I should listen to his voice to release Israel? I do not know Yahweh, and also I will not release Israel.”
3 And they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day journey into the desert, and let us sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest he strike us with plague or with sword.” 4 And the king of Egypt said, “Why, Moses and Aaron, do you take[a] the people from their work? Go to your forced labor!”[b] 5 And Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now many, and you want to stop them from their forced labor.”[c]
6 And 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. 8 But 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.’ 9 Let the work be heavier on the men so that they will do it and not pay attention to words of deception.”
10 And 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. 11 You go, get straw for yourselves from whatever you find because not a thing is being reduced from your work.’” 12 And the people spread out in all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for the straw. 13 And 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]
The Foremen Complain to Pharaoh and Moses, and Moses Complains to Yahweh
15 And the foremen of the Israelites[k] came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 Straw is not being given to your servants, but they are saying to us, ‘Make bricks!’ and, look, your servants are being beaten, but it is the fault of[l] your people.” 17 And he said, “You are lazy, lazy! Therefore you are saying, ‘Let us go; let us sacrifice to Yahweh.’ 18 And now go, work, but straw will not be given to you, and you must give the full quota of bricks.”
19 And the foremen of the Israelites[m] saw they were in trouble with the saying,[n] “You will not reduce from your bricks for each day[o] on its day.” 20 And they met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting to meet them when they were going out from Pharaoh. 21 And they said to them, “May Yahweh look upon you and judge because you have caused our fragrance to stink in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants so as to put a sword into their hand to kill us.” 22 And Moses returned to Yahweh and said, “Lord, why have you brought trouble to this people? Why ever did you send me? 23 And from the time I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble to this people, and you have certainly not delivered your people.”
Footnotes
- Exodus 5:4 Or “let loose,” “let run wild” (compare 32:25)
- Exodus 5:4 Literally “burdens” or “burdensome labor”
- Exodus 5:5 Literally “burdens” or “burdensome labor”
- Exodus 5:7 Literally “yesterday three days ago”
- Exodus 5:8 Literally “yesterday three days ago”
- Exodus 5:8 Literally “you will put on them”
- Exodus 5:13 Literally “a thing of a day”
- Exodus 5:13 Literally “in the being of the straw”
- Exodus 5:14 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Exodus 5:14 Literally “as yesterday three days ago also yesterday also the day”
- Exodus 5:15 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Exodus 5:16 The expression is difficult. The word translated “fault” or “sin” has pointing for a second-person feminine singular subject (“you sinned”), which does not go well with either “Pharaoh” or “your people” as a subject; but the noun translated “sin of” has the same consonants, leading to the possibility that the word should be understood as a noun
- Exodus 5:19 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Exodus 5:19 Literally “saying”
- Exodus 5:19 Literally “a thing of a day”
Exodus 5
New Living Translation
Moses and Aaron Speak to Pharaoh
5 After this presentation to Israel’s leaders, Moses and Aaron went and spoke to Pharaoh. They told him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go so they may hold a festival in my honor in the wilderness.”
2 “Is that so?” retorted Pharaoh. “And who is the Lord? Why should I listen to him and let Israel go? I don’t know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.”
3 But Aaron and Moses persisted. “The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they declared. “So let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness so we can offer sacrifices to the Lord our God. If we don’t, he will kill us with a plague or with the sword.”
4 Pharaoh replied, “Moses and Aaron, why are you distracting the people from their tasks? Get back to work! 5 Look, there are many of your people in the land, and you are stopping them from their work.”
Making Bricks without Straw
6 That same day Pharaoh sent this order to the Egyptian slave drivers and the Israelite foremen: 7 “Do not supply any more straw for making bricks. Make the people get it themselves! 8 But still require them to make the same number of bricks as before. Don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy. That’s why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifices to our God.’ 9 Load them down with more work. Make them sweat! That will teach them to listen to lies!”
10 So the slave drivers and foremen went out and told the people: “This is what Pharaoh says: I will not provide any more straw for you. 11 Go and get it yourselves. Find it wherever you can. But you must produce just as many bricks as before!” 12 So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt in search of stubble to use as straw.
13 Meanwhile, the Egyptian slave drivers continued to push hard. “Meet your daily quota of bricks, just as you did when we provided you with straw!” they demanded. 14 Then they whipped the Israelite foremen they had put in charge of the work crews. “Why haven’t you met your quotas either yesterday or today?” they demanded.
15 So the Israelite foremen went to Pharaoh and pleaded with him. “Please don’t treat your servants like this,” they begged. 16 “We are given no straw, but the slave drivers still demand, ‘Make bricks!’ We are being beaten, but it isn’t our fault! Your own people are to blame!”
17 But Pharaoh shouted, “You’re just lazy! Lazy! That’s why you’re saying, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifices to the Lord.’ 18 Now get back to work! No straw will be given to you, but you must still produce the full quota of bricks.”
19 The Israelite foremen could see that they were in serious trouble when they were told, “You must not reduce the number of bricks you make each day.” 20 As they left Pharaoh’s court, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who were waiting outside for them. 21 The foremen said to them, “May the Lord judge and punish you for making us stink before Pharaoh and his officials. You have put a sword into their hands, an excuse to kill us!”
22 Then Moses went back to the Lord and protested, “Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? 23 Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!”
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