Exodus 5
5
Chapter 5
Moses and Aaron speak to Pharaoh
1After this, Moses and Aaron went to visit Pharaoh. They said to him, ‘Listen to what the Lord says. He is the God of Israel. He says, “Let my people go. Let them prepare a feast in the desert to worship me.” ’
2But Pharaoh said, ‘The Lord is not my god. I do not need to obey him. I do not have to let the Israelites go. I do not know the Lord. I will not let the Israelites go.’
3Moses and Aaron said, ‘The God of the Israelites has met us. Please let us go. We must go on a journey of three days into the desert. There we must give gifts to the Lord our God. If we do not do this, God may punish us. We may become very ill, or people may attack us in war.’
4But the king of Egypt said, ‘Moses and Aaron, you must not take the people away from their work! Go back to your jobs!’ 5Pharaoh said, ‘Look, there are now many of your people who live in my country. But you are taking them away from their work.’
6On that day, Pharaoh gave a command to the masters of the slaves, and to the leaders of the work. 7This was the command: ‘Do not give the people any more straw to make bricks. Now they must go and find their own straw. 8But they must still make the same number of bricks as they did before. Do not let them make fewer bricks. These people are lazy. That is why they are complaining. They say, “We want to go and offer sacrifices to our God.” 9Make the work more difficult for them to do. They will have to do very hard work. They will be too busy to listen to the lies of their leaders.’ #5:9 When they made bricks, they mixed straw with the clay. This made the bricks stronger. Pharaoh was making the Israelites do work that was even harder. Now they had to look for straw before they could use it in the bricks.
10So the slaves' masters and the leaders of the work went to the Israelite people. They said to them, ‘Pharaoh says, “Now I will not give you straw. 11You must try to find straw for yourselves. But you will still have to make the same number of bricks.” ’
12So the people went everywhere in the land of Egypt, to get straw from the fields. 13The slaves' masters made the Israelites work quickly. They said, ‘Finish all your work for each day, as much as when we gave straw to you.’ 14Pharaoh's slave masters hit the Israelite leaders who had authority over the people. They said to them, ‘Why have you not made the complete number of bricks today, as you did before?’
15Then the Israelite leaders of the work went to Pharaoh. They asked him, ‘Please sir, why do you do these things to us, your servants? 16Our masters no longer give us any straw. But they say “Make bricks!” Then they hit us. But it is your people who are doing wrong things, not us.’
17But Pharaoh said, ‘You Israelites are just lazy people! That is why you say, “Let us go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.” 18Now go back and do your work. Nobody will give you any straw. But you must make the complete number of bricks.’
19The Israelite work leaders heard Pharaoh say, ‘You must still make the same number of bricks as you made before.’ Then they knew that they were in trouble. 20When they left Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron. Moses and Aaron were waiting for them to return from Pharaoh. 21The work leaders said to Moses and Aaron, ‘We hope that the Lord will punish you! You have made us like a bad smell to Pharaoh and to his officers. You have given them a reason to kill us.’
22Then Moses returned to the Lord. He said, ‘My Lord, why have you brought trouble to these people? Why did you send me to lead them? 23I went to speak to Pharaoh with your authority. But since I spoke to Pharaoh, he has caused these people to have trouble. And you have done nothing to save your people.’
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Exodus 5
5
Moses and Aaron Go to the King of Egypt
1Moses and Aaron went to the king#5.1 the king: See the note at 1.11. of Egypt and told him, “The Lord God says, ‘Let my people go into the desert, so they can honor me with a celebration there.’ ”
2“Who is this Lord and why should I obey him?” the king replied. “I refuse to let you and your people go!”
3They answered, “The Lord God of the Hebrews has appeared to us. Please let us walk three days into the desert where we can offer sacrifices to him. If you don't, he may strike us down with terrible troubles or with war.”
4-5The king said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you keeping these people from working? Look how many you are keeping from doing their work. Now everyone get back to work!”
6That same day the king gave orders to his Egyptian slave bosses and to the Israelite men directly in charge of the Israelite slaves. He told them:
7Don't give the slaves any more straw#5.7 straw: The straw made the mud bricks stronger and kept them from shrinking, cracking, or losing their shape. to put in their bricks. Force them to find their own straw wherever they can, 8but they must make the same number of bricks as before. They are lazy, or else they would not beg me to let them go and sacrifice to their God. 9Make them work so hard that they won't have time to listen to these lies.
10The slave bosses and the men in charge of the slaves went out and told them, “The king says he will not give you any more straw. 11Go and find your own straw wherever you can, but you must still make as many bricks as before.”
12The slaves went all over Egypt, looking for straw. 13But the slave bosses were hard on them and kept saying, “Each day you have to make as many bricks as you did when you were given straw.” 14The bosses beat the men in charge of the slaves and said, “Why didn't you force the slaves to make as many bricks yesterday and today as they did before?”
15Finally, the men in charge of the slaves went to the king and said, “Why are you treating us like this? 16No one brings us any straw, but we are still ordered to make the same number of bricks. We are beaten with whips, and your own people are to blame.”
17The king replied, “You are lazy—nothing but lazy! That's why you keep asking me to let you go and sacrifice to your Lord. 18Get back to work! You won't be given straw, but you must still make the same number of bricks.”
19The men knew they were in deep trouble when they were ordered to make the same number of bricks each day. 20After they left the king, they went to see Moses and Aaron, who had been waiting for them. 21Then the men said, “We hope the Lord will punish both of you for making the king and his officials hate us. Now they even have an excuse to kill us.”
The Lord's Promise to Moses
22Moses left them and prayed, “Our Lord, why have you brought so much trouble on your people? Is that why you sent me here? 23Ever since you told me to speak to the king,#5.23 the king: See the note at 1.11. he has caused nothing but trouble for these people. And you haven't done a thing to help.”
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.