Exodus 5
5
Bricks without Straw
1Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, āThus says the Lord, the God of Israel, āLet my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.ā ā 2But Pharaoh said, āWho is the Lord, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.ā 3Then they said, āThe God of the Hebrews has revealed himself to us; let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord our God, or he will fall upon us with pestilence or sword.ā 4But the king of Egypt said to them, āMoses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get to your labors!ā 5Pharaoh continued, āNow they are more numerous than the people of the land#5.5 Sam: Heb The people of the land are now many and yet you want them to stop working!ā 6That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, as well as their supervisors, 7āYou shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8But you shall require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry, āLet us go and offer sacrifice to our God.ā 9Let heavier work be laid on them; then they will labor at it and pay no attention to deceptive words.ā
10So the taskmasters and the supervisors of the people went out and said to the people, āThus says Pharaoh, āI will not give you straw. 11Go and get straw yourselves, wherever you can find it; but your work will not be lessened in the least.ā ā 12So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt, to gather stubble for straw. 13The taskmasters were urgent, saying, āComplete your work, the same daily assignment as when you were given straw.ā 14And the supervisors of the Israelites, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and were asked, āWhy did you not finish the required quantity of bricks yesterday and today, as you did before?ā
15Then the Israelite supervisors came to Pharaoh and cried, āWhy do you treat your servants like this? 16No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, āMake bricks!ā Look how your servants are beaten! You are unjust to your own people.ā#5.16 Gk Compare Syr Vg: Heb beaten, and the sin of your people 17He said, āYou are lazy, lazy; that is why you say, āLet us go and sacrifice to the Lord.ā 18Go now, and work; for no straw shall be given you, but you shall still deliver the same number of bricks.ā 19The Israelite supervisors saw that they were in trouble when they were told, āYou shall not lessen your daily number of bricks.ā 20As they left Pharaoh, they came upon Moses and Aaron who were waiting to meet them. 21They said to them, āThe Lord look upon you and judge! You have brought us into bad odor with Pharaoh and his officials, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.ā
22Then Moses turned again to the Lord and said, āO Lord, why have you mistreated this people? Why did you ever send me? 23Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people.ā
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Exodus 5: NRSV-CI
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New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Ā© 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Exodus 5
5
Bricks Without Straw
1Later on, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They said, āThe Lord is the God of Israel. He says, āLet my people go. Then they will be able to hold a feast to honor me in the desert.āāā
2Pharaoh said, āWho is the Lord? Why should I obey him? Why should I let Israel go? I donāt even know the Lord. And I wonāt let Israel go.ā
3Then Moses and Aaron said, āThe 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 donāt, he might strike us with plagues. Or he might let us be killed by swords.ā
4But the king of Egypt said, āMoses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get back to work!ā 5Pharaoh continued, āThere are large numbers of your people in the land. But you are stopping them from working.ā
6That same day Pharaoh gave orders to the slave drivers and the overseers in charge of the people. 7He said, āDonāt 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. Donāt lower the number they have to make. They are lazy. Thatās why they are crying out, āLet us go. We want to offer sacrifices to our God.ā 9Make them work harder. Then they will be too busy to pay attention to lies.ā
10The slave drivers and the overseers left. They said to the people, āPharaoh says, āI wonāt 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.āāā 12So the people scattered all over Egypt. They went to gather any pieces of straw left in the fields. 13Pharaohās slave drivers kept making the people work hard. They said, āFinish the work you are required to do each day. Make the same number of bricks you made when you had straw.ā 14The slave drivers whipped the Israelite overseers they had appointed. The slave drivers asked, āWhy havenāt you made the same number of bricks yesterday or today, just as before?ā
15Then the Israelite overseers appealed to Pharaoh. They asked, āWhy have you treated us like this? 16You didnāt give us any straw. But you told us, āMake bricks!ā We are being whipped. But itās the fault of your own people.ā
17Pharaoh said, āYou are lazy! Thatās why you keep saying, āLet us go. We want to offer sacrifices to the Lord.ā 18Now get to work. We wonāt give you any straw. But you still have to make the same number of bricks.ā
19The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble. They knew it when they were told, āDonāt reduce the number of bricks you are required to make each day.ā 20When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them. 21They said to Moses and Aaron, āWe 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.ā
The Lord Promises to Save the Israelites
22Moses returned to talk to the Lord. He said to him, āWhy, 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 havenāt saved your people at all.ā
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