“Let My People Go”

¹Afterward, Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: 'Let my people go so that they may hold a feast for me in the wilderness.'" ²Pharaoh replied, "Who is the LORD that I should obey him and let Israel go? I don't know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go." ³They said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us travel 3 days into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God. If we don't, he may strike us with plague or with the sword." ⁴The king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Return to your burdens." ⁵Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens." ⁶And on that same day, Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, ⁷"Stop giving the people straw for making bricks like you've been doing. Make them go out and find their own straw. ⁸And the number of bricks they made before, you shall require from them; you shall not reduce it at all, for they are idle; therefore they cry out, saying, "Let us go and sacrifice to our God." ⁹Increase the workload on the men so they will have to work harder and not pay attention to empty words. ¹⁰So the slave drivers and the Israelite foremen went out and told the people, "Pharaoh says this: 'I will no longer give you straw. ¹¹Go find your own straw wherever you can, but your workload will not be reduced one bit.'" ¹²So the people scattered across all of Egypt, scraping together stubble to use as straw. ¹³The slave drivers kept pressuring them, saying, "Finish your full daily quota — the same amount as when straw was provided!" ¹⁴The Israelite foremen that Pharaoh's slave drivers had put in charge were beaten and interrogated: "Why haven't you met your brick quota yesterday and today, like you did before?" ¹⁵The Israelite foremen went directly to Pharaoh and pleaded, "Why are you treating your servants this way? ¹⁶No straw is being given to us, yet they keep telling us, 'Make bricks!' Your servants are being beaten, but the fault lies with your own people." ¹⁷But Pharaoh said, "You're lazy — that's what you are, lazy! That's why you keep saying, 'Let us go sacrifice to the LORD.' ¹⁸Now get back to work! No straw will be given to you, but you will still produce the same number of bricks." ¹⁹The Israelite foremen realized they were in deep trouble when they were told, "You will not reduce your daily brick quota by even one brick." ²⁰As they left Pharaoh, they encountered Moses and Aaron, who stood in their path. ²¹The foremen said to them, "May the LORD see what you've done and judge you for it! You've made us absolutely despised by Pharaoh and his officials. You've practically handed them a sword to kill us with!" ²²Moses went back to the LORD and said, "LORD, why have you brought such trouble on this people? Why did you even send me?" ²³Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has only made things worse for this people. And you haven't rescued your people at all."