Sh'mot (Exo) 5
5
1(vii) After that, Moshe and Aharon came and said to Pharaoh, “Here is what Adonai, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they can celebrate a festival in the desert to honor me.’” 2But Pharaoh replied, “Who is Adonai, that I should obey when he says to let Isra’el go? I don’t know Adonai, and I also won’t let Isra’el go.” 3They said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days’ journey into the desert, so that we can sacrifice to Adonai our God. Otherwise, he may strike us with a plague or with the sword.” 4The king of Egypt answered them, “Moshe and Aharon, what do you mean by taking the people away from their work? Get back to your labor! 5Look!” Pharaoh added, “the population of the land has grown, yet you are trying to have them stop working!”
6That same day Pharaoh ordered the slavemasters and the people’s foremen, 7“You are no longer to provide straw for the bricks the people are making, as you did before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8But you will require them to produce the same quantity of bricks as before, don’t reduce it, because they’re lazing around. This is why they’re crying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9Give these people harder work to do. That will keep them too busy to pay attention to speeches full of lies.”
10The people’s slavemasters went out, their foremen too, and said to the people, “Here is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will no longer give you straw. 11You go, yourselves, and get straw wherever you can find it. But your output is not to be reduced.’” 12So the people were dispersed throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13The slavemasters kept pressing them. “Keep working! Make your daily quota, just as when straw was provided.” 14The foremen of the people of Isra’el, whom Pharaoh’s slavemasters had appointed to be over them, were flogged and asked, “Why haven’t you fulfilled your quota of bricks yesterday and today, as you did formerly?”
15Then the foremen of the people of Isra’el came and complained to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way? 16No straw is given to your servants, yet they keep telling us to make bricks. And now your servants are being flogged, but the fault lies with your own people.” 17“Lazy!” he retorted, “You’re just lazy! That’s why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to Adonai.’ 18Get going now, and get back to work! No straw will be given to you, and you will still deliver the full amount of bricks.” 19When they said, “You are not to reduce your daily production quota of bricks,” the foremen of the people of Isra’el could see that they were in deep trouble.
20As they were leaving Pharaoh, they encountered Moshe and Aharon standing by the road; 21and they said to them, “May Adonai look at you and judge accordingly, because you have made us utterly abhorrent in the view of Pharaoh and his servants, and you have put a sword in their hands to kill us!” (Maftir) 22Moshe returned to Adonai and said, “Adonai, why have you treated this people so terribly? What has been the value of sending me? 23For ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has dealt terribly with this people! And you haven’t rescued your people at all!”
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Sh'mot (Exo) 5: CJB
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Learn More About Complete Jewish BibleExodus 5
5
Bricks Without Straw
1Later 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.’ ”
2Pharaoh 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.”
3Then 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.”
4But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get back to work!” 5Pharaoh continued, “There are large numbers of your people in the land. But you are stopping them from working.”
6That same day Pharaoh gave orders to the slave drivers and the overseers in charge of the people. 7He said, “Don’t give the people any more straw to make bricks. Let them go and get their own straw. 8But 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.’ 9Make them work harder. Then they will be too busy to pay attention to lies.”
10The slave drivers and the overseers left. They said to the people, “Pharaoh says, ‘I won’t give you any more straw. 11Go and get your own straw anywhere you can find it. But you still have to make the same number of bricks.’ ” 12So the people scattered all over Egypt. They went to gather any pieces of straw left in the fields. 13Pharaoh’s slave drivers kept making the people work hard. They said, “Finish the work you are required to do each day. Make the same number of bricks you made when you had straw.” 14The slave drivers whipped the Israelite overseers they had appointed. The slave drivers asked, “Why haven’t you made the same number of bricks yesterday or today, just as before?”
15Then the Israelite overseers appealed to Pharaoh. They asked, “Why have you treated us like this? 16You didn’t give us any straw. But you told us, ‘Make bricks!’ We are being whipped. But it’s the fault of your own people.”
17Pharaoh said, “You are lazy! That’s why you keep saying, ‘Let us go. We want to offer sacrifices to the Lord.’ 18Now get to work. We won’t give you any straw. But you still have to make the same number of bricks.”
19The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble. They knew it when they were told, “Don’t reduce the number of bricks you are required to make each day.” 20When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them. 21They said to Moses and Aaron, “We want the Lord to look at what you have done! We want him to judge you for it! We are like a very bad smell to Pharaoh and his officials. You have given them an excuse to kill us with their swords.”
The Lord Promises to Save the Israelites
22Moses 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? 23I 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.”
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