IAnd after that Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “YHWH, God of Israel, said this: ‘Let my people go, so they will celebrate a festival for me in the wilderness.’”
2And Pharaoh said, “Who is YHWH that I should listen to His voice, to let Israel go?! I don’t know YHWH, and also I won’t let Israel go.”
3And they said, “The God of the Hebrews has communicated with us. Let us go on a trip of three days in the wilderness so we may sacrifice to YHWH, our God, or else He’ll strike us with an epidemic or with the sword.”*
4And the king of Egypt said to them, “Why, Moses and Aaron, do you turn the people loose from its work? Go to your burdens!” 5And Pharaoh said, “Here, the people of the land are now many, and you’ve made them cease from their burdens.” 6And Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters among the people and its officers in that day, saying, 7“You shall not continue to give straw to the people to make bricks as yesterday and the day before. They shall go and collect straw for themselves. 8And you shall impose on them the quota of the bricks that they were making yesterday and the day before. You shall not subtract from it. Because they’re lazy. On account of this they’re crying, saying ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9Let the work be heavy on the people, and let them do it, and let them not pay attention to words that are a lie!”
10And the people’s taskmasters and its officers went out and said to the people, saying, “Pharaoh said this: ‘I am not giving you straw. “You, go, take straw for yourselves from wherever you’ll find it, because not a thing is subtracted from your work.’”
12And the people scattered through all the land of Egypt to collect stubble for straw. 13And the taskmasters were prodding, saying, “Finish your work, the day’s thing in that very day, as when there was the straw.” 14And the officers of the children of Israel whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them were beaten—saying, “Why haven’t you finished your requirement to make brick like the day before yesterday, also yesterday, also today?”
15And the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you do a thing like this to your servants? 16Straw isn’t given to your servants, and they say to us: Make bricks. And here, your servants are beaten, and it’s your people’s sin.”
17And he said, “You’re lazy, lazy! On account of this you’re saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to YHWH.’ 18And now go, work! And straw will not be given to you, and you shall give the quota of bricks!”
19And the officers of the children of Israel saw themselves in a bad state—saying, “You shall not subtract from your bricks, the day’s thing in that very day.” 20And they met Moses and Aaron, standing opposite them when they came out from Pharaoh, 21and they said to them, “May YHWH look on you and judge, that you’ve made our smell odious in Pharaoh’s eyes and in his servants’ eyes, to give a sword in their hand to kill us!”
22And Moses went back to YHWH and said, “My Lord, why have you done bad to this people? Why did you send me here? 23And since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name he has done bad to this people, and you haven’t rescued your people!”