Chapter 5

Moses and Aaron speak to Pharaoh

v1 After 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 party for me in the *desert. v2 But Pharaoh said: I do not know the *Lord. I do not know why I should obey his voice. I do not know why I should let the *Israelites go. I do not know the *Lord. Neither will I let the *Israelites go. v3 Moses 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 attack us with illness. Or he may use soldiers to attack us. v4 But the king of Egypt said: Moses and Aaron, you must not take the people away from their work! Go back to your jobs! v5 And Pharaoh said: Look, there are now many people in the country. But you stop them doing their work. v6 On that day, Pharaoh gave a *command to the masters of the slaves. He also gave the *command to the leaders of the work. v7 This was the *command: Do not give the people any more *straw with which to make *bricks. They must find their own *straw. v8 But they must still make the same number of *bricks as before. Do not let the amount become smaller. They are lazy. That is why they ask to go. They say: Let us go to give gifts to our God. v9 So you must cause them to work harder. They will then be too busy to listen to false words. Verse 7 *straw with which to make *bricks When they made *bricks, they mixed *straw with the *clay. This made the *bricks stronger. Pharaoh was making the *Israelites work harder. Now they had to look for *straw before they could use it in the *bricks. v10 So the slaves masters and the leaders of the work went to the people. They said to them: Pharaoh says: I will not give you *straw. v11 You must find your own *straw, where you can. But you will still have to make the same number of *bricks. v12 So the people went everywhere in the land of Egypt, to get *straw from the fields. v13 The slaves masters made the *Israelites work fast. They said: Finish your work for each day, as when you had *straw. v14 Pharaohs slave masters hit the leaders who had authority over the people. They said to them: Why have you not made as many *bricks today, as you did before? v15 Then the *Israelite leaders went to Pharaoh. They asked him: Why do you do these things to us, your servants? v16 Our masters do not give us any *straw. But they say Make *bricks! Then they hit us. But it is your people that are doing wrong things. v17 But Pharaoh said: You are lazy! You are only lazy! That is why you say: Let us go. Let us take gifts to the *Lord. v18 Now go and do your work. Nobody will give you any *straw. But you must make the same number of *bricks.

v19 The *Israelite leaders heard Pharaoh say: You must make the same number of *bricks as you made before. Then they knew that they were in bad trouble. v20 Then the *Israelite leaders met with Moses and Aaron. Moses and Aaron were waiting for them to return from Pharaoh. v21 And the leaders spoke to Moses and Aaron. They said: We hope that the *Lord will look at you. We hope that the Lord will *judge you! You have made us like a bad smell to Pharaoh and to his servants. You have given them a reason to kill us. v22 Then Moses returned to the *Lord. He said: Oh Master, why have you done bad things to this people? Why did you send me to them? v23 I came to speak in your name. But since I spoke to Pharaoh, he has done only bad things to the people. And you have done nothing to save your people.