Exodus 5
5
1And afterwards have Moses and Aaron entered, and they say unto Pharaoh, ‘Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Send My people away, and they keep a feast to Me in the wilderness;’
2and Pharaoh saith, ‘Who [is] Jehovah, that I hearken to His voice, to send Israel away? I have not known Jehovah, and Israel also I do not send away.’
3And they say, ‘The God of the Hebrews hath met with us, let us go, we pray thee, a journey of three days into the wilderness, and we sacrifice to Jehovah our God, lest He meet us with pestilence or with sword.’
4And the king of Egypt saith unto them, ‘Why, Moses and Aaron, do ye free the people from its works? go to your burdens.’
5Pharaoh also saith, ‘Lo, numerous now [is] the people of the land, and ye have caused them to cease from their burdens!’
6And Pharaoh commandeth, on that day, the exactors among the people and its authorities, saying,
7‘Ye do not add to give straw to the people for the making of the bricks, as heretofore — they go and have gathered straw for themselves;
8and the proper quantity of the bricks which they are making heretofore ye do put on them, ye do not diminish from it, for they are remiss, therefore they are crying, saying, Let us go, let us sacrifice to our God;
9let the service be heavy on the men, and let them work at it, and not be dazzled by lying words.’
10And the exactors of the people, and its authorities, go out, and speak unto the people, saying, ‘Thus said Pharaoh, I do not give you straw,
11ye — go ye, take for yourselves straw where ye find [it], for there is nothing of your service diminished.’
12And the people is scattered over all the land of Egypt, to gather stubble for straw,
13and the exactors are making haste, saying, ‘Complete your works, the matter of a day in its day, as when there is straw.’
14And the authorities of the sons of Israel, whom the exactors of Pharaoh have placed over them, are beaten, saying, ‘Wherefore have ye not completed your portion in making brick as heretofore, both yesterday and to-day?’
15And the authorities of the sons of Israel come in and cry unto Pharaoh, saying, ‘Why dost thou thus to thy servants?
16Straw is not given to thy servants, and they are saying to us, Make bricks, and lo, thy servants are smitten — and thy people hath sinned.’
17And he saith, ‘Remiss — ye are remiss, therefore ye are saying, Let us go, let us sacrifice to Jehovah;
18and now, go, serve; and straw is not given to you, and the measure of bricks ye do give.’
19And the authorities of the sons of Israel see them in affliction, saying, ‘Ye do not diminish from your bricks; the matter of a day in its day.’
20And they meet Moses and Aaron standing to meet them, in their coming out from Pharaoh,
21and say unto them, ‘Jehovah look upon you, and judge, because ye have caused our fragrance to stink in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants — to give a sword into their hand to slay us.’
22And Moses turneth back unto Jehovah, and saith, ‘Lord, why hast Thou done evil to this people? why [is] this? — Thou hast sent me!
23and since I have come unto Pharaoh, to speak in Thy name, he hath done evil to this people, and Thou hast not at all delivered Thy people.’
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Exodus 5: YLT98
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maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
Exodus 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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