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.”

Cast Your Burden on the Lord

To the choirmaster: with ^(A)stringed instruments. A Maskil^[a] of David.

The Ark Returned to Israel

6 The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. ² And the Philistines called for the priests and ^(A)the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.” ³ They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him ^(B)a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why ^(C)his hand does not turn away from you.” ⁴ And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden ^(D)tumors and five golden mice, ^(E)according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. ⁵ So you must make images of your ^(F)tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, ^(G)and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps ^(H)he will lighten his hand from off you ^(I)and your gods and your land. ⁶ Why should you harden your hearts as ^(J)the Egyptians and ^(K)Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, ^(L)did they not send the people away, and they departed? ⁷ Now then, take and prepare ^(M)a new cart and two milk cows ^(N)on which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them. ⁸ And take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side ^(O)the figures of gold, which you are returning to him as ^(P)a guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way ⁹ and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to ^(Q)Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not ^(R)his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”

¹⁰ The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. ¹¹ And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. ¹² And the cows went straight in the direction of ^(S)Beth-shemesh along ^(T)one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of ^(U)Beth-shemesh. ¹³ Now the people of ^(V)Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. ¹⁴ The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. ^(W)A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon ^(X)the great stone. And the men of ^(Y)Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord. ¹⁶ And when ^(Z)the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.

¹⁷ These are the golden tumors that the Philistines returned as a ^(AA)guilt offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron, ¹⁸ and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, ^(AB)both fortified cities and unwalled villages. ^(AC)The great stone beside which they set down the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

^19 (AD)And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men of them,^[a] and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow. ²⁰ Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, ^(AE)“Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?” ²¹ So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of ^(AF)Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to you.”