Ἔξοδος 5
1 καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα εἰσῆλθεν Μωυσῆς καὶ Ααρων πρὸς Φαραω καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ τάδε λέγει κύριος ὁ θεὸς Ισραηλ ἐξαπόστειλον τὸν λαόν μου ἵνα μοι ἑορτάσωσιν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ
After this Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, ‘Let my people go so they can hold a religious festival for me in the desert.’”
2 καὶ εἶπεν Φαραω τίς ἐστιν οὗ εἰσακούσομαι τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ὥστε ἐξαποστεῖλαι τοὺς υἱοὺς Ισραηλ οὐκ οἶδα τὸν κύριον καὶ τὸν Ισραηλ οὐκ ἐξαποστέλλω
“Who is this ‘Lord’ that I should listen to his request to let Israel go?” Pharaoh replied. “I don't know the Lord and I certainly won't let Israel leave!”
3 καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ ὁ θεὸς τῶν Εβραίων προσκέκληται ἡμᾶς πορευσόμεθα οὖν ὁδὸν τριῶν ἡμερῶν εἰς τὴν ἔρημον ὅπως θύσωμεν τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν μήποτε συναντήσῃ ἡμῖν θάνατος ἢ φόνος
“The God of the Hebrews came to us,” they added. “Please allow us to go a three days journey into the desert and offer sacrifices to the Lord our God. Otherwise he'll kill us by disease or by the sword.”
4 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ βασιλεὺς Αἰγύπτου ἵνα τί Μωυσῆ καὶ Ααρων διαστρέφετε τὸν λαόν μου ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων ἀπέλθατε ἕκαστος ὑμῶν πρὸς τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ
“Moses and Aaron, why are you trying to take people away from their assigned labor?” Pharaoh asked. “Get back to work!” he ordered.
5 καὶ εἶπεν Φαραω ἰδοὺ νῦν πολυπληθεῖ ὁ λαός μὴ οὖν καταπαύσωμεν αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων
“Look here,” he went on. “There are many of your people here in our country and you are preventing them from doing their assigned labor.”
6 συνέταξεν δὲ Φαραω τοῖς ἐργοδιώκταις τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ τοῖς γραμματεῦσιν λέγων
That very day he ordered the slave drivers and those in charge of the people:
7 οὐκέτι προστεθήσεται διδόναι ἄχυρον τῷ λαῷ εἰς τὴν πλινθουργίαν καθάπερ ἐχθὲς καὶ τρίτην ἡμέραν αὐτοὶ πορευέσθωσαν καὶ συναγαγέτωσαν ἑαυτοῖς ἄχυρα
“Don't give them any more straw to make bricks like before. Have them go and collect the straw themselves.
8 καὶ τὴν σύνταξιν τῆς πλινθείας ἧς αὐτοὶ ποιοῦσιν καθ’ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐπιβαλεῖς αὐτοῖς οὐκ ἀφελεῖς οὐδέν σχολάζουσιν γάρ διὰ τοῦτο κεκράγασιν λέγοντες πορευθῶμεν καὶ θύσωμεν τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν
But still make them produce the same quantity of bricks as before. They're lazy people—that's why they're calling out, asking, ‘Please let us go and offer sacrifices to our god.
9 βαρυνέσθω τὰ ἔργα τῶν ἀνθρώπων τούτων καὶ μεριμνάτωσαν ταῦτα καὶ μὴ μεριμνάτωσαν ἐν λόγοις κενοῖς
Make their work harder so they can get on with it and not pay any attention to all these lies!”
10 κατέσπευδον δὲ αὐτοὺς οἱ ἐργοδιῶκται καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ ἔλεγον πρὸς τὸν λαὸν λέγοντες τάδε λέγει Φαραω οὐκέτι δίδωμι ὑμῖν ἄχυρα
So the slave drivers and those in charge went out and told the people, “This is what Pharaoh has ordered: ‘I won't give you any more straw.
11 αὐτοὶ ὑμεῖς πορευόμενοι συλλέγετε ἑαυτοῖς ἄχυρα ὅθεν ἐὰν εὕρητε οὐ γὰρ ἀφαιρεῖται ἀπὸ τῆς συντάξεως ὑμῶν οὐθέν
Go and get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it, because your work quota won't be reduced.”
12 καὶ διεσπάρη ὁ λαὸς ἐν ὅλῃ Αἰγύπτῳ συναγαγεῖν καλάμην εἰς ἄχυρα
So the people went all over Egypt collecting stubble for straw.
13 οἱ δὲ ἐργοδιῶκται κατέσπευδον αὐτοὺς λέγοντες συντελεῖτε τὰ ἔργα τὰ καθήκοντα καθ’ ἡμέραν καθάπερ καὶ ὅτε τὸ ἄχυρον ἐδίδοτο ὑμῖν
The slave drivers kept on forcing them, saying, “You still have to do the same work as you did when you had straw provided!”
14 καὶ ἐμαστιγώθησαν οἱ γραμματεῖς τοῦ γένους τῶν υἱῶν Ισραηλ οἱ κατασταθέντες ἐπ’ αὐτοὺς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπιστατῶν τοῦ Φαραω λέγοντες διὰ τί οὐ συνετελέσατε τὰς συντάξεις ὑμῶν τῆς πλινθείας καθάπερ ἐχθὲς καὶ τρίτην ἡμέραν καὶ τὸ τῆς σήμερον
They beat the Israelite supervisors they had put in charge, shouting at them, “Why haven't you met your quota of bricks as you did before?”
15 εἰσελθόντες δὲ οἱ γραμματεῖς τῶν υἱῶν Ισραηλ κατεβόησαν πρὸς Φαραω λέγοντες ἵνα τί οὕτως ποιεῖς τοῖς σοῖς οἰκέταις
The Israelite supervisors went to Pharaoh to complain, saying, “Why are you treating us your servants like this?
16 ἄχυρον οὐ δίδοται τοῖς οἰκέταις σου καὶ τὴν πλίνθον ἡμῖν λέγουσιν ποιεῖν καὶ ἰδοὺ οἱ παῖδές σου μεμαστίγωνται ἀδικήσεις οὖν τὸν λαόν σου
You don't give us any straw but your slave drivers demand that we make bricks, and they beat us! Your people are treating us badly!”
17 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς σχολάζετε σχολασταί ἐστε διὰ τοῦτο λέγετε πορευθῶμεν θύσωμεν τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν
“No, you're just lazy, lazy people!” Pharaoh replied. “That's why you keep on asking, ‘Please let us go and offer sacrifices to the Lord.’
18 νῦν οὖν πορευθέντες ἐργάζεσθε τὸ γὰρ ἄχυρον οὐ δοθήσεται ὑμῖν καὶ τὴν σύνταξιν τῆς πλινθείας ἀποδώσετε
Now get out of here and go back to work! You won't be given any straw but you'll still have to produce the full quota of bricks!”
19 ἑώρων δὲ οἱ γραμματεῖς τῶν υἱῶν Ισραηλ ἑαυτοὺς ἐν κακοῖς λέγοντες οὐκ ἀπολείψετε τῆς πλινθείας τὸ καθῆκον τῇ ἡμέρᾳ
The Israelite supervisors realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You must not reduce the daily production of bricks.”
20 συνήντησαν δὲ Μωυσῇ καὶ Ααρων ἐρχομένοις εἰς συνάντησιν αὐτοῖς ἐκπορευομένων αὐτῶν ἀπὸ Φαραω
They went over to Moses and Aaron who were waiting for them after their meeting with Pharaoh,
21 καὶ εἶπαν αὐτοῖς ἴδοι ὁ θεὸς ὑμᾶς καὶ κρίναι ὅτι ἐβδελύξατε τὴν ὀσμὴν ἡμῶν ἐναντίον Φαραω καὶ ἐναντίον τῶν θεραπόντων αὐτοῦ δοῦναι ῥομφαίαν εἰς τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ ἀποκτεῖναι ἡμᾶς
and said, “May the Lord see what you have done and judge you accordingly! You have made us like a bad smell to Pharaoh and his officials. You have put a sword in their hands to kill us!”
22 ἐπέστρεψεν δὲ Μωυσῆς πρὸς κύριον καὶ εἶπεν κύριε διὰ τί ἐκάκωσας τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον καὶ ἵνα τί ἀπέσταλκάς με
Moses went back to the Lord and complained, “Why have you caused all this trouble for your own people, Lord? Was this why you sent me?
23 καὶ ἀφ’ οὗ πεπόρευμαι πρὸς Φαραω λαλῆσαι ἐπὶ τῷ σῷ ὀνόματι ἐκάκωσεν τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον καὶ οὐκ ἐρρύσω τὸν λαόν σου
Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak for you, he has been even harder on your people, and you haven't done anything to save them!”
