Bricks Without Straw

5 Later on, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They said, “The Lord is the God of Israel. He says, ‘Let my people go. Then they will be able to hold a feast to honor me in the desert.’ ”

² Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord? Why should I obey him? Why should I let Israel go? I don’t even know the Lord. And I won’t let Israel go.”

³ Then Moses and Aaron said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a journey that lasts about three days. We want to go into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God. If we don’t, he might strike us with plagues. Or he might let us be killed by swords.”

⁴ But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get back to work!” ⁵ Pharaoh continued, “There are large numbers of your people in the land. But you are stopping them from working.”

⁶ That same day Pharaoh gave orders to the slave drivers and the overseers in charge of the people. ⁷ He said, “Don’t give the people any more straw to make bricks. Let them go and get their own straw. ⁸ But require them to make the same number of bricks as before. Don’t lower the number they have to make. They are lazy. That’s why they are crying out, ‘Let us go. We want to offer sacrifices to our God.’ ⁹ Make them work harder. Then they will be too busy to pay attention to lies.”

The Lord Promises to Save the Israelites

²² Moses returned to talk to the Lord. He said to him, “Why, Lord? Why have you brought trouble on these people? Is this why you sent me? ²³ I went to Pharaoh to speak to him in your name. Ever since then, he has brought nothing but trouble on these people. And you haven’t saved your people at all.”