So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”

The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your neighbor?”

When they returned to their father Reuel he asked, “Why have you come back so quickly today?”

“So where is he?” he asked his daughters. “Why then did you leave the man behind? Invite him to eat dinner.”

So Moses thought: I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?

The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you causing the people to neglect their work? Get to your work!”

But require the same quota of bricks from them as they were making before; do not reduce it. For they are slackers—that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’

Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s slave drivers had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why haven’t you finished making your prescribed number of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”

So the Israelite foremen went in and cried for help to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way?

But he said, “You are slackers. Slackers! That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.’

So Moses went back to the Lord and asked, “Lord, why have You caused trouble for this people? And why did You ever send me?

When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of man to the firstborn of livestock. That is why I sacrifice to the Lord all the firstborn of the womb that are males, but I redeem all the firstborn of my sons.’

The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to break camp.

They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter—that is why it was named Marah.

So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.”

“Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the Lord?”

But the people thirsted there for water, and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

When Moses’ father-in-law saw everything he was doing for them he asked, “What is this thing you’re doing for the people? Why are you alone sitting as judge, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”

But Moses interceded with the Lord his God: “Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand?

Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out with an evil intent to kill them in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from Your great anger and relent concerning this disaster planned for Your people.