Exodus 5:1-14 - Pharaoh Rejects Yahweh's Authority
1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus says Jehovah, 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 Jehovah, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know Jehovah, neither will I let Israel go.
3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go, we pray you, three days' journey into the desert and sacrifice to Jehovah our God, lest He fall upon us with plague or with the sword. 4 And the king of Egypt said to them, Moses and Aaron, Why do you keep the people from their work? Get to your burdens! 5 And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and you make them rest from their burdens.
6 And Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers the same day, saying, 7 You shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 And you shall lay upon them the number of bricks which they have made before now. You shall not take away from it. For they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go sacrifice to our God. 9 Let more work be laid upon the men, and let them labor in it. And do not let them regard vain words.
10 And the taskmasters of the people and their officers went out. And they spoke to the people, saying, So says Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. 11 Go and get straw where you can find it, yet not any of your work shall be taken away. 12 So the people were scattered through all the land of Egypt, to gather stubble for straw. 13 And the taskmasters hurried them, saying, Finish your works, the thing of a day, just as when there was straw. 14 And the taskmasters of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten. And they demanded, Why have you not completed your task in making brick, both yesterday and today, as you did before?