Genesis 5:1-21
Later
Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what the Lord God
of
Israel says: Let my
people go into the desert to celebrate a festival in my
honor." Pharaoh asked, "Who is
the Lord? Why should I obey him and let Israel go? I don''t know the Lord, and I
won''t let Israel go."
They
replied, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us travel
three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God. If we don''t
go, he may kill us with a plague or a war." The
king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why are you distracting the
people from their work? Get back to work!" Then
Pharaoh added, "Look how many people there are in the land! Do you want
them to quit working?" That same
day Pharaoh gave these orders to the slave
drivers and foremen: "Don''t give the people any more straw to
make bricks as you have been doing. Let them gather their own straw, but insist that they make the same number of
bricks they were making before. Making fewer bricks will not be acceptable.
They''re lazy! That''s why they''re crying, ''Let us go offer sacrifices to our
God.'' Make the work harder for these
people so that they will be too busy to listen to lies."
The
slave drivers and foreman went out and said to them, "This is what Pharaoh
says: I''m no longer giving you straw. Get
your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work load will not be reduced
one bit." So the people scattered
all over Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The
slave drivers kept hurrying them. They said, "Finish the same amount of
work each day, just as when you had straw." Pharaoh''s
slave drivers had placed Israelite foremen in charge of the people. The slave
drivers beat the foremen and said, "You didn''t finish all the bricks you
were ordered to make yesterday or today. Why didn''t you make as many as you
used to?"
Then
the Israelite foremen complained to Pharaoh. They asked, "Why are you
treating us this way? We''re given no
straw, and yet we''re told to make bricks. We''re being beaten, but your men are
at fault." "You''re lazy! Just plain lazy!" Pharaoh answered. "That''s why you keep saying,
''Let us go offer sacrifices to the Lord.'' Now
get back to work! You won''t be given any straw, but you must still make the
same number of bricks." The
Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told,
"Don''t make fewer bricks each day than you''re supposed to." As they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and
Aaron waiting for them. So they said,
"May the Lord see what you have done and judge you! You have made Pharaoh
and his officials hate us. You have given them an excuse to kill us."