Exodus 5:1-14 - Pharaoh Rejects Yahweh's Authority
1 And afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, Thus says LORD, the God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.
2 And Pharaoh said, Who is LORD, that I should hearken to his voice to let Israel go? I do not know LORD, and moreover I will not let Israel go.
3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to LORD our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. 4 And the king of Egypt said to them, Therefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, loose the people from their works? Get you to your burdens. 5 And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land are now many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.
6 And the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, 7 Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick as formerly. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 And the number of the bricks, which they made formerly, ye shall lay upon them. Ye shall not diminish any of it. For they are idle, therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. 9 Let heavier work be laid upon the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard lying words.
10 And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, Thus says Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. 11 Go yourselves, get you straw where ye can find it, for none of your work shall be diminished. 12 So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 And the taskmasters were urgent saying, Fulfill your works, [your] daily tasks, as when there was straw. 14 And the officers of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Why have ye not fulfilled your task both yesterday and today, in making brick as formerly?