1 And afterwards Mosheh and Aharon went in and said to Pharaoh, “Thus said יהוה Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘Let My people go, so that they keep a festival to Me in the wilderness.’ ”
2 And Pharaoh said, “Who is יהוה, that I should obey His voice to let Yisra’ĕl go? I do not know יהוה, nor am I going to let Yisra’ĕl go.”
3 And they said, “The Elohim of the Heḇrews has met with us. Please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness and slaughter to יהוה our Elohim, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”
4 But the sovereign of Mitsrayim said to them, “Mosheh and Aharon, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your burdens.”
5 And Pharaoh said, “See, the people of the land are many now, and you make them cease from their burdens!”
6 And the same day Pharaoh commanded the slave-drivers of the people and their foremen, saying,
7 “You are no longer to give the people straw to make bricks as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.
8 “And lay on them the required amount of bricks which they made before, do not diminish it. For they are idle, that is why they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and slaughter to our Elohim.’
9 “Let more work be laid on the men, so that they labour in it, and not pay attention to words of falsehood.”
10 And the slave-drivers of the people and their foremen went out and spoke to the people, saying, “Thus said Pharaoh, ‘I do not give you straw.
11 ‘Go, take straw for yourselves, wherever you find it, for your work shall not be diminished.’ ”
12 And the people were scattered in all the land of Mitsrayim – to gather stubble for straw.
13 And the slave-drivers were hurrying them on, saying, “Complete your work, your daily amount, as when there was straw.”
14 Also the foremen of the children of Yisra’ĕl, whom Pharaoh’s slave-drivers had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not completed your task in making bricks both yesterday and today, as before?”
15 And the foremen of the children of Yisra’ĕl came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you treat your servants this way?
16 “There is no straw given to your servants, and they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And see, your servants are beaten, but your own people are at fault.”
17 But he said, “You are idle! You are idle! That is why you say, ‘Let us go and slaughter to יהוה.’
18 “So now go, work. And straw is not given to you, but deliver the amount of bricks.”
19 And the foremen of the children of Yisra’ĕl saw that they were in trouble after it was said, “You are not to diminish your daily amount of bricks.”
20 And when they came out from Pharaoh, they met Mosheh and Aharon who stood there to meet them.
21 And they said to them, “Let יהוה look on you and judge, because you have made us loathsome in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants, to give a sword in their hand to kill us.”
22 And Mosheh returned to יהוה and said, “יהוה, why have You done evil to this people? Why did You send me?
23 “For ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, he has done evil to this people. And You have not delivered Your people at all.”