Exodus 5

1 And after that, Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and said, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, Let my people go so that they may keep a feast to me in the waste land.

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 And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, to whose voice I am to give ear and let Israel go? I have no knowledge of the Lord and I will not let Israel go.

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 And they said, The God of the Hebrews has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God, so that he may not send death on us by disease or the sword.

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 And the king of Egypt said to them, Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people away from their work? get back to your work.

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 And Pharaoh said, Truly, the people of the land are increasing in number, and you are keeping them back from their work.

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 The same day Pharaoh gave orders to the overseers and those who were responsible for the work, saying,

That same day the king commanded the Egyptian slave bosses and the [Israeli] men supervising the slaves,

7 Give these men no more dry stems for their brick-making as you have been doing; let them go and get the material for themselves.

“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 see that they make the same number of bricks as before, and no less: for they have no love for work; and so they are crying out and saying, Let us go and make an offering to our God.

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 Give the men harder work, and see that they do it; let them not give attention to false words.

Force the men to work harder, so that they will not [have time] to listen to lies [from their leaders]!”

10 And the overseers of the people and their responsible men went out and said to the people, Pharaoh says, I will give you no more dry stems.

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 Go yourselves and get dry stems wherever you are able; for your work is not to be any less.

[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 people were sent in all directions through the land of Egypt to get dry grass for stems.

So the Israeli people went all over Egypt to find straw.

13 And the overseers went on driving them and saying, Do your full day's work as before when there were dry stems for you.

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 And the responsible men of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's overseers had put over them, were given blows, and they said to them, Why have you not done your regular work, in making bricks as before?

[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 responsible men of the children of Israel came to Pharaoh, protesting and saying, Why are you acting in this way to your servants?

Then the Israeli supervisors went to the king and complained, saying “[Your Majesty], why are you treating us this way?

16 They give us no dry stems and they say to us, Make bricks: and they give your servants blows; but it is your people who are in the wrong.

[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 he said, You have no love for work: that is why you say, Let us go and make an offering to the Lord.

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 Go now, get back to your work; no dry stems will be given to you, but you are to make the full number of bricks.

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 Then the responsible men of the children of Israel saw that they were purposing evil when they said, The number of bricks which you have to make every day will be no less than before.

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 And they came face to face with Moses and Aaron, who were in their way when they came out from Pharaoh:

As they left the king’s [palace], they met Aaron and Moses/me, who were waiting for them [there].

21 And they said to them, May the Lord take note of you and be your judge; for you have given Pharaoh and his servants a bad opinion of us, putting a sword in their hands for our destruction.

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 And Moses went back to the Lord and said, Lord, why have you done evil to this people? why have you sent me?

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 For from the time when I came to Pharaoh to put your words before him, he has done evil to this people, and you have given them no help.

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!”