Exodus 5
1 And afterwards, Moses and Aaron went in and said unto Pharaoh, —Thus, saith Yahweh God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.
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 Then said Pharaoh, Who is Yahweh that I should hearken to his voice, to let Israel go? I know not Yahweh, and certainly. Israel, will I not let 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, hath met with us, —let us go, we pray thee, a journey of three days into the desert and sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with 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 unto them, Wherefore O Moses and Aaron should ye loose the people from their works? Get you to your burdens.
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, Lo! many—now, are the people of the land, —and are ye to make them rest from their burdens?
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 So then Pharaoh gave command on that day, unto the taskmasters over the people and unto their overseers—saying:
That same day the king commanded the Egyptian slave bosses and the [Israeli] men supervising the slaves,
7 Ye shall no more give straw unto the people, for making the bricks as heretofore: Let them, go, themselves, so shall they gather for themselves straw:
“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 Nevertheless, the fixed number of bricks, which they have been making heretofore, shall ye lay upon them, ye shall not diminish therefrom, —for idle, they are, on this account, it is that they are making an outcry, saying, We must go our way, we must sacrifice 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 The service must be made heavy on the men that they may labour on it, —and let them not pay regard to words of falsehood.
Force the men to work harder, so that they will not [have time] to listen to lies [from their leaders]!”
10 Then went forth the taskmasters of the people and their overseers, and spake unto the people, —saying, —Thus, saith Pharaoh, I am not going to give you straw,
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 Ye yourselves go fetch you straw, of any ye can find, —yet hath there not been diminished from your service a single thing.
[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 dispersed themselves throughout all the land of Egypt, —to gather stubble for straw:
So the Israeli people went all over Egypt to find straw.
13 the taskmasters, meanwhile, being urgent saying, —Complete your works, The task of a day, in its day, as when the straw was provided.
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 Then were beaten the overseers of the sons of Israel, whom the taskmasters of Pharaoh had set over them saying: Wherefore have ye not completed your task for making bricks, as heretofore, so also, yesterday and, to-day?
[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 came in the overseers of the sons of Israel, and made outcry unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore shouldst thou do thus to thy servants?
Then the Israeli supervisors went to the king and complained, saying “[Your Majesty], why are you treating us this way?
16 No straw, is given to thy servants, yet bricks, —they keep saying to us—make ye! And lo, thy servants, are beaten—thou dost, therefore, wrong thy people.
[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: Idle, ye are—idle, on this account, are, ye, saying, We must take our journey, we must sacrifice to Yahweh.
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 Now, therefore, go labour, but, straw, shall not be given you, —yet the tale of bricks, shall ye render.
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 did the overseers of the sons of Israel see themselves to be in an evil case, when it was said, —Ye shall not diminish from your bricks—the task of a day, in its day
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 So they fell upon Moses and upon Aaron, stationing themselves to meet them, —as they came forth 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 unto them, Yahweh look upon you and judge, —in that ye have made us odious in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants, putting a sword into their hand to slay us.
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 returned unto Yahweh and said, —O My Lord wherefore hast thou caused harm to this people? Wherefore now didst thou send 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 seeing that from what time I came in unto Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done harm to this people, and thou hast not delivered, thy people,
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!”
