Exodus 5:14-16

New Living Translation

¹⁴ Then they whipped the Israelite foremen they had put in charge of the work crews. “Why haven’t you met your quotas either yesterday or today?” they demanded.

¹⁵ So the Israelite foremen went to Pharaoh and pleaded with him. “Please don’t treat your servants like this,” they begged. ¹⁶ “We are given no straw, but the slave drivers still demand, ‘Make bricks!’ We are being beaten, but it isn’t our fault! Your own people are to blame!”