Making Bricks Without Straw

5 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold ^(A)a feast to me in the wilderness.’” ² But Pharaoh said, ^(B)“Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, ^(C)I will not let Israel go.” ³ Then they said, “The ^(D)God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” ⁴ But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your ^(E)burdens.” ⁵ And Pharaoh said, “Behold, ^(F)the people of the land are now many,^[a] and you make them rest from their burdens!” ⁶ The same day Pharaoh commanded the ^(G)taskmasters of the people and their ^(H)foremen, ⁷ “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸ But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹ Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”

¹⁰ So the ^(I)taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. ¹¹ Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’” ¹² So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³ The ^(J)taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” ¹⁴ And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh's ^(K)taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”

¹⁵ Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? ¹⁶ No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” ¹⁷ But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ ¹⁸ Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” ¹⁹ The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” ²⁰ They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; ²¹ and ^(L)they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

²² Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? ²³ For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

God Promises Deliverance

6 But the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with ^(M)a strong hand he will ^(N)drive them out of his land.”

The Death of Jesus

³³ And when the sixth hour^[a] had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.^{[b] 34} And at the ninth hour Jesus ^(A)cried with a loud voice, ^(B)“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³⁵ And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” ³⁶ And someone ran and filled a sponge with ^(C)sour wine, put it on a reed ^(D)and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” ³⁷ And Jesus ^(E)uttered a loud cry and ^(F)breathed his last. ³⁸ And ^(G)the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. ^39 (H)And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he^[c] breathed his last, he said, ^(I)“Truly this man was the Son^[d] of God!”

⁴⁰ There were also ^(J)women looking on ^(K)from a distance, among whom were ^(L)Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and ^(M)Salome. ⁴¹ When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ^(N)ministered to him, and there were also many other women who ^(O)came up with him to Jerusalem.

Jesus Is Buried

^42 (P)And when evening had come, since it was ^(Q)the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, ⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea, ^(R)a respected member of the council, who ^(S)was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.^[e] And summoning ^(T)the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. ⁴⁵ And when he learned from ^(U)the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. ⁴⁶ And Joseph^[f] bought ^(V)a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and ^(W)laid him in a tomb ^(X)that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled ^(Y)a stone against the entrance of the tomb. ^47 (Z)Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.