Exodus 5

Moses and Aaron Talk to Pharaoh

1 Moses and Aaron rolled up to Pharaoh and said, ‘Listen, the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let My people go so they can throw a festival for Me in the wilderness.’

2 Pharaoh said, ‘Who is this Lord you all talking about, Why should I listen to Him and let Israel go, I do not know this Lord, and I am not letting Israel go.’

3 Moses and Aaron said, ‘The God of the Hebrews met with us. Please let us take a three-day trip into the wilderness to worship Him, or He might hit us with plagues or something worse.’

4 But Pharaoh snapped, ‘Why are you all wasting time, Get back to work!’

5 Pharaoh said, ‘Look at this mess, you all got too many people in this land, and now you are trying to pull them away from their work,’

Pharaoh Makes Their Work Harder

6 That same day, Pharaoh told the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the Israelites,

7 ‘Stop giving the people straw to make bricks. Let them find their own straw.’

8 ‘But do not lower the number of bricks they must make. They are lazy, that is why they are crying about going to worship their God.’

9 ‘Make their work harder so they will stop listening to lies.’

The Israelites Struggle

10 So the slave drivers and overseers went out and told the people, ‘Pharaoh says we are not giving you straw anymore.’

11 ‘Go get your own straw wherever you can find it, but you still must make the same number of bricks.’

12 The people scattered all over Egypt trying to gather stubble to use as straw.

13 The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, ‘Hurry up! You still must make the same number of bricks as before.’

14 They even beat the Israelite overseers Pharaoh put in charge, saying, ‘Why have you not made enough bricks like you used to?’

The Israelite Overseers Complain to Pharaoh

15 The Israelite overseers went to Pharaoh and complained, ‘Why are you doing this to us?’

16 ‘You are not giving us straw, but you are still making us make bricks. And now we are getting beat for it, it is not fair!’

17 Pharaoh said, ‘You all are just lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy! That is why you are crying about going to worship the Lord.’

18 ‘Now go back to work! You are not getting any straw, but you still must make the same number of bricks.’

The Overseers Blame Moses and Aaron

19 The Israelite overseers realized they were in big trouble when Pharaoh said, ‘You better not make fewer bricks than before.’

20 As they left Pharaoh, they ran into Moses and Aaron and said,

21 ‘This is all your fault! The Lord is going to judge you for this. You made Pharaoh hate us, and now he is going to kill us!’

Moses Complains to God

22 Moses went back to the Lord and said, ‘Lord, why did You send me to do this, Everything has gone wrong!’

23 ‘Ever since I went to Pharaoh and said what You told me to, he has been treating the people worse, and You have not done anything to save them!’