1And after that, Moshe and Aaron entered and they said to Pharaoh, “Thus says LORD JEHOVAH the God of Israel: ‘Send my people out, and they will keep a feast to me in the wilderness.’” 2And Pharaoh said, “Who is LORD JEHOVAH, that I should listen to his voice to send away Israel? I do not know LORD JEHOVAH, neither am I sending out Israel.” 3And they said, “LORD JEHOVAH, God of the Hebrews, has been revealed unto us; let us go a journey of three days in the wilderness, and we will sacrifice to LORD JEHOVAH our God, lest he will attack us with a sword or with death.” 4And the King of Egypt said to them, “Why do you, Moshe and Aaron, stop the people from their works? Go to your work.” 5And Pharaoh said to them, “Behold, now the people of the land are many, and you stop them from their works.”

6And Pharaoh commanded the Rulers of the people and their Scribes on that day, and he said to them. 7“You may not add to give straw to the people to cast bricks as it has been done and like they were doing; they shall depart and they will collect straw for themselves. 8And the number of the bricks that they were making as it was fulfilled, even so it is to be fulfilled; you will put it upon them, and you will not reduce them, because they are idle; because of this they complain and they are saying, ‘Let us go, we will sacrifice to our God.’ 9You will increase the work on the men and they will attend to it and they will not attend to empty words.”

10And the Rulers of the people and its Scribes went out and they said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I am not giving you straw. 11You go take yourselves straw from where you can and let not a thing be reduced from your work.’” 12And the people were scattered in all the land of Egypt to collect dry grass of straw. 13And the Rulers were pressing hard and they were saying, “Complete your work as always like when straw was given to you.” 14And the Scribes of the children of Israel were chastised, whom the Rulers of Pharaoh had set over them, and they were saying, “Why have you not handed over the number of bricks as they were completed and as were being completed even yesterday and today?”

15And the Scribes of the children of Israel came and they complained before Pharaoh, and they were saying, “Why is this done so to your Servants? 16Straw is not given to your Servants, and they were saying to us, ‘Cast bricks’, and behold, your Servants are beaten and you sin against your people.” 17And Pharaoh said to them, “Idle, you are idle, because of this you are saying, ‘Let us go, we will sacrifice to LORD JEHOVAH.’ 18Now go and work, and straw will not be given to you and you shall give the number of the bricks.” 19And the Scribes saw that things went badly for the children of Israel and they were saying to them, “Do not reduce from your building, but continue as on every day before.” 20And they met with Moshe and with Aaron when standing opposite them as they went out from before Pharaoh: 21And they said to them, “May LORD JEHOVAH look upon you and judge that you have made our spirit evil in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his Servants, to make us as a sword in their hands to destroy us.”

22And Moshe returned to LORD JEHOVAH and said, “My Lord, why have you done evil to this people and why have you sent me? 23For from the hour I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, evil comes to this people, and you surely have not delivered your people.”