1 Then Aaron and Moses/I went to the king and one of them/us said, “Yahweh God, whom we Israeli people worship, says this to you: ‘Let my people go to the desert, in order that they may have a feast to honor me!’ ” 2 But the king said, “Who is Yahweh? Why should I pay attention to what he says and let the Israeli people [MTY] go? I do not know Yahweh! And furthermore, I will not let the Israeli people go!” 3 They/we replied, “Yahweh God, the one we Hebrews worship, has ◄revealed himself/appeared► to us and told us what to tell you. So we ask you to please let us go on a three day journey into the desert. We must offer sacrifices to Yahweh God there. If we do not do that, he will cause us to die [IDM] from diseases or from attacks by our enemies [MTY].” 4 But the king of Egypt said to them/us, “Moses and Aaron, ◄stop trying to keep the Israeli people from working/why are you preventing the Israeli people from working?► [RHQ] Tell those slaves to return to work!” 5 The king also said, “Listen to me! You people who now live in this land are now more numerous, and you want them to stop working and rest!”

6 That same day the king commanded the Egyptian slave bosses and the Israeli men supervising the slaves, 7 “Do not continue to give the Israeli people straw for making bricks, as you have done previously. Make them go into the fields and gather straw for themselves. 8 But require them to make the same number of bricks that they did before. Do not decrease the number at all. They ◄are lazy/do not have enough work to do►. That is the reason they are asking me to let them go into the desert to offer sacrifices to their god. 9 Force the men to work harder, so that they will not have time to listen to lies from their leaders!”

10 So the slave bosses and supervisors of the slaves went to where the Israeli people were and said to them, “The king has said that he will no longer give you any straw. 11 So you yourselves must go and get straw wherever you can find it. But you must still keep working to make the same number of bricks as before.” [LIT] 12 So the Israeli people went all over Egypt to find straw. 13 The slave bosses kept telling them insistently, “Finish the work you are required to do each day, making the same amount of bricks as you did before, when we gave you straw!” 14 When they were not able to do that, the slave bosses had the Israeli supervisors beaten with sticks, and they asked them, “Why have all the men you are supervising not been able to make the same number of bricks today/now as they did before [RHQ]?”

15 Then the Israeli supervisors went to the king and complained, saying “Your Majesty, why are you treating us this way? 16 Now they are not giving us any straw for making bricks, but they keep commanding us to make bricks. And now sometimes they beat us. But it is the fault of your own slave bosses that we cannot make as many bricks as before!” 17 But the king said, “You are lazy and do not want to work! That is why you keep saying, ‘Allow us to go to the desert and offer sacrifices to Yahweh.’ 18 So go and get back to work! We are not going to give you any straw, but you must keep making the same number of bricks!”

19 The Israeli supervisors realized that they were in a difficult situation, because they had been told, “We are not going to decrease the number of bricks you must make each day.” 20 As they left the king’s palace, they met Aaron and Moses/me, who were waiting for them there. 21 They said to Aaron and Moses/me, “Yahweh has seen what you two have done He will punish you [MTY], because you have caused the king and his officials to despise us! You have given them an excuse [MTY] to kill us!”

22 Moses/I left them and prayed to Yahweh again, saying, “O Yahweh, why have you caused all these evil things to happen to your people [RHQ]? And why did you send me here [RHQ]? 23 Ever since I went to the king and told him what you told me to say [MTY], he has treated your people very cruelly, and you have not done anything to help/rescue them!”