1 After that, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’”
2 But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”
3 “The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they answered. “Please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”
4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labor!”
5 Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you would be stopping them from their labor.”
6 That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen:
7 “You shall no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. They must go and gather their own straw.
8 But require of them the same quota of bricks as before; do not reduce it. For they are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’
9 Make the work harder on the men so they will be occupied and pay no attention to these lies.”