Exodus 5:16-18

The Voice

¹⁶ No more straw is being provided to your servants, yet the slave drivers keep yelling at us, “Make bricks!” And then your servants are beaten; it is your people who are at fault here, not us.

Pharaoh: ¹⁷ No. It is you. You are lazy! You are all so very lazy! You try to escape your work by making up excuses, saying, “Please release us so that we may go sacrifice to the Eternal.” ¹⁸ Leave me now, and get back to work, you indolent whiners! You will not be provided any straw, and you must make the same number of bricks as before.