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Exodus 5

1Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness.” 2Pharaoh said, “Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice and let Israel go? I do not know Yahweh, and I will not let Israel go.” 3They said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three-day journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to Yahweh our God, or he may strike us with pestilence or the sword.” 4The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you drawing the people away from their work? Go to your burdens!” 5Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you would make them cease from their burdens!”

6That day Pharaoh commanded the people's taskmasters and their foremen, 7“You must no longer give the people straw to make bricks as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8But impose on them the same number of bricks they were making before; do not reduce it. They are idle; that is why they cry out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9Let the labor weigh heavily on the men, so that they work at it and pay no attention to lying words.”

10The people's taskmasters and their foremen went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: I am not giving you straw. 11Go yourselves and get straw wherever you can find it, but nothing will be reduced from your labor.” 12So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Complete your work, each day's requirement on its day, just as when there was straw!” 14The foremen of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had placed over them, were beaten and asked, “Why have you not completed your prescribed number of bricks as before, either yesterday or today?”

15The foremen of the sons of Israel went and cried out to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your slaves this way? 16No straw is given to your slaves, yet they tell us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your slaves are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.” 17He said, “You are idle, idle! That is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to Yahweh.’ 18Now go and work. No straw will be given to you, but you must deliver the full number of bricks.” 19The foremen of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You must not reduce your bricks, each day's requirement on its day.” 20As they left Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron, who were standing there to meet them. 21They said to them, “May Yahweh look upon you and judge! You have made us stink in the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, putting a sword in their hand to kill us.”

22Moses returned to Yahweh and said, “Lord, why have you brought harm on this people? Why did you send me? 23Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has harmed this people, and you have certainly not rescued your people.”

Translation notes 5

5:3 — Strike us. The pronoun refers to the speakers' own people. The appeal does not threaten Pharaoh with a plague in this sentence.

5:6, 14 — Taskmasters and foremen. The taskmasters exercise Egyptian authority; the foremen beaten in verse 14 are Israelites placed over the laborers.

5:16 — The fault. The closing Hebrew wording is difficult. “The fault is with your own people” is the preferred sense of the received Hebrew here. Another proposal, involving a different reading, is “you wrong your own people.” Neither removes the foremen's accusation that the demands are unjust.

5:21 — Stink in the eyes. The Hebrew itself combines smell and sight. The expression means that Moses and Aaron have made the Israelites hateful to Pharaoh; the draft preserves its bodily imagery.

5:22–23 — Harm. Moses' complaint directly attributes harm to God's mission. The draft does not soften the accusation or supply an answer before Yahweh gives one.