Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh

1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let My people go, so that they may hold a feast before Me in the desert. 2 And Pharaoh said, The name of the Lord is not known to me, that I should listen to His Memra to send Israel away. The name of the Lord is not revealed to me,⁠a and I will not release Israel. 3 And they said, The God of the Jews has revealed Himself to us;⁠b let us go now a three days' journey into the desert to sacrifice before the Lord our God, or He will come upon us with death or with slaughter. 4 And the king of Egypt said to them, Moses and Aaron, why are you keeping the people from their work? Go back to your labor. 5 And Pharaoh said, Look, the people of the land are now many, and you are making them stop their labor.

Pharaoh Increases Israel's Labor

6 And that day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their overseers, saying, 7 You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves; 8 yet you shall still require of them the same number of bricks that they made before, and not reduce it; for they are idle, and that is why they cry out, saying, Let us go and sacrifice before our God. 9 Make the work heavier for the men: let them be busy with it, and not with empty words. 10 And the taskmasters of the people and their overseers went out and spoke to the people, saying, This is what Pharaoh says: I will not give you straw; 11 go and gather straw for yourselves wherever you can find it; yet nothing shall be reduced from your work. 12 And the people scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 And the taskmasters pressed them, saying, Finish your work, each day's quota in its day, as you did when straw was given to you. 14 And the taskmasters whom Pharaoh had set over the sons of Israel beat them, saying, Why have you not finished your quota of bricks, both yesterday and today, as before? 15 And the overseers of the sons of Israel came and complained before Pharaoh, saying, Why have you treated your servants this way? 16 You have not given your servants straw, yet they say to us, Make bricks; and look, your servants are beaten, and your people sin against us. 17 But he said, You are idle, you are idle: that is why you say, Let us go and sacrifice before the Lord. 18 And now go and work: but I will not give you straw; yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks. 19 And the overseers of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble, because they were told, You shall not reduce your bricks, each day's quota in its day. 20 And they met Moses and Aaron, who were standing in their way as they came out from Pharaoh. 21 And they said to them, May the Lord reveal Himself to you and judge; because you have made us offensive to Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hands to kill us! 22 And Moses returned before the Lord and said, Lord, why have You done harm to this people? Why did You send me? 23 Ever since I went in to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all.