Exodus 5 - 6 — Legacy Standard Bible

Pharaoh Will Not Let the People Go

5And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “^aThus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘^bLet My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.’” ²But Pharaoh said, “^aWho is Yahweh that I should listen to His voice to let Israel go? I do not know Yahweh, and also, ^bI will not let Israel go.” ³Then they said, “^aThe God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest He confront us with pestilence or with the sword.” ⁴But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you ¹draw the people away from their ²work? Get back to your ³^,^ahard labors!” ⁵And Pharaoh said, “Look, ^athe people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their hard labors!” ⁶So on that day Pharaoh commanded ^athe taskmasters over the people and their ^bforemen, saying, ⁷“You are no longer to give the people straw to make brick as previously; let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸“But the quota of bricks which they were making previously, you shall set upon them; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are ^alazy, therefore they are crying out, ‘¹Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹“Let their slavery be hard on the men, and let them work at it so that they will have no regard for false words.”

¹⁰So ^athe taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out and spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I am not going to give you any straw. ¹¹‘You go and get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it, but no amount of your slave labor will be reduced.’” ¹²So the people scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³And the taskmasters were pressing them, saying, “Complete your ¹work quota, ²the daily amount, just as when there was straw.” ¹⁴Moreover, ^athe foremen of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, ^bwere beaten ¹and were asked, “Why have you not completed your required amount either yesterday or today in making brick as previously?”

¹⁵Then the foremen of the sons of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you deal this way with your slaves? ¹⁶“There is no straw given to your slaves, yet they keep saying to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your slaves are being beaten; but it is the ¹sin of your own people.” ¹⁷But he said, “You are ^alazy—lazy! Therefore you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to Yahweh.’ ¹⁸“So now, go and labor; but straw will not be given to you, yet you must deliver the quota of bricks.” ¹⁹Then the foremen of the sons of Israel saw that they were in trouble ¹because they were told, “You must not reduce ²your daily amount of bricks.” ²⁰When they left Pharaoh’s presence, they confronted Moses and Aaron, ¹standing there to meet them. ²¹^aAnd they said to them, “^bMay Yahweh look upon you and judge, for you have ^cmade ¹us a foul smell in Pharaoh’s sight and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

²²Then Moses returned to Yahweh and said, “^aO Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me? ²³“Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, ^aand You have not delivered Your people at all.”

Yahweh Remembers His Covenant

6Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for ^aby a strong hand he will let them go, and by a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”

²God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am ^aYahweh; ³and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as ¹^,^aGod Almighty, but by ^bMy name, Yahweh, I was not known to them. ⁴“And I also established ^aMy covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the ¹land in which they sojourned. ⁵“Furthermore I have ^aheard the groaning of the sons of Israel because the Egyptians are holding them in slavery, and I have remembered My covenant. ⁶“Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘^aI am Yahweh, and ^bI will bring you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their slavery. I will also ^credeem you with ^dan outstretched arm and with great judgments. ⁷‘Then I will take you ¹^,^afor My people, and ^bI will be ²your God; and ^cyou shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians. ⁸‘And I will bring you to the land which ^aI ¹swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and ^bI will give it to you for a possession; ^cI am Yahweh.’” ⁹So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on ^aaccount of their weakness of spirit and ¹hard slavery.

¹⁰Now Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹“^aCome, ¹tell Pharaoh king of Egypt ²to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.” ¹²But Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying, “Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; ^ahow then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of ^buncircumcised lips?” ¹³Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron and gave them a command for the sons of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

The Heads of Israel’s Households

¹⁴These are the heads of their fathers’ households. ^aThe sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben.

¹⁵The ^asons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon. ¹⁶These are the names of ^athe sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon and Kohath and Merari; and the years of Levi’s life were 137 years. ¹⁷^aThe sons of Gershon: ¹Libni and Shimei, according to their families. ¹⁸^aThe sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel; and the years of Kohath’s life were 133 years. ¹⁹^aThe sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations. ²⁰^aAnd Amram took his father’s sister Jochebed as a wife, and she bore him Aaron and Moses; and the years of Amram’s life were 137 years. ²¹^aThe sons of Izhar: Korah and Nepheg and Zichri. ²²^aThe sons of Uzziel: Mishael and ¹Elzaphan and Sithri. ²³And Aaron took Elisheba, the daughter of ^aAmminadab, the sister of ^bNahshon, as a wife, and she bore him ^cNadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ²⁴The ^asons of Korah: Assir and Elkanah and ¹Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites.

²⁵And Aaron’s son ^aEleazar took one of the daughters of Putiel as a wife, and she bore him ^bPhinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites according to their families. ²⁶It was the same Aaron and Moses to whom Yahweh said, “^aBring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their ^bhosts.” ²⁷They were the ones ^awho spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring out the sons of Israel from Egypt; it was the same Moses and Aaron.

Aaron Will Speak for Moses

²⁸Now it happened on the day when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹that Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “^aI am Yahweh; ^bspeak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I am speaking to you.” ³⁰But Moses said before Yahweh, “Behold, I am of ^auncircumcised lips; how then will Pharaoh listen to me?”