1 ¶ Afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.

2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go.

3 ¶ And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us: please let us go three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice to the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.

4 And the king of Egypt said to them, Why do you, Moses and Aaron, keep the people from their work? get back to work.

5 Then Pharaoh added, You see how many people are in the land now, and you would stop them from working.

6 That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,

7 You will no longer give the people straw to make brick, as before: let them go and gather straw for themselves.

8 But you shall still require the same number of bricks that they made before; you shall by no means lessen it: for they are idle; that is why they cry, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.

9 Let heavier work be laid upon the men, so they are occupied with work; and pay no attention to deceptive words.

10 ¶ Then the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, went out and spoke to the people, saying, Pharaoh says this, I will not give you straw.

11 Go, get straw where you can find it: but there will be no reduction of your workload.

12 So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

13 And the taskmasters hurried them on, saying, Finish your day’s quota, as when straw was provided.

14 And the Hebrew foremen, that Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and asked, Why have you not finished the number of bricks you were ordered to make, both yesterday and today, as before?

15 ¶ Then the Hebrew foremen went to Pharaoh, and cried, Why are you treating your servants like this?

16 No straw given to your servants, yet they say to us, Make bricks: and, behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is with your own people.

17 But he said, You are lazy, just plain lazy: that is why you are saying, Let us go and do sacrifice to the LORD.

18 Get out now, and get to work; for no straw will be given to you, yet you will produce the same number of bricks.

19 And the Hebrew foremen could see that they were in a bad situation, after they were told, You shall by no means lessen your daily number of bricks.

20 And they confronted Moses and Aaron, who were waiting in the street, as they left Pharaoh:

21 And they said to them, May the LORD see you, and judge; because you have made us a rotten stench to be detested by Pharaoh, and by his servants, and put a sword in their hand to slay us.

22 Then Moses turned again to the LORD, and said, Lord, why have you dealt evil to this people? why did you ever send me?

23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated these people; and you have done nothing to deliver your people.