Moses and Aaron then go to Pharaoh. They tell him that the God of Israel asks him to let His people go to hold a feast in His honor.

Pharaoh wants to know who is Yahweh that he should obey Him and let the Israelites go. He dknow nothing of Yahweh and he won’t let the Israelites go.

The God of Hebrews had appeared to them, they insist. The king should give them leave for three days. They should go to the desert and offer a sacrifice to their God. Otherwise, He will strike them either with sword or with plague.

The king wants to know what they mean by distracting the Israelites from the forced labor. He asks them to get back to work. Now that the Israelites have become numerous, he won’t let them interrupt their work.

Pharaoh decides to make the people work more. He orders the taskmasters and their scribes that they should not give them Straw. Let the Israelites go and gather straw on their own. But they should demand the same amount of bricks from them as earlier. The people are lazy. That is why they cry that they want to go and sacrifice to their God.

The taskmasters go out and talk to the people. They inform them of Pharaoh’s order. They won’t get straw. They should gather them on their own. However, the work should not suffer, they tell the people.

Accordingly, the Israelites scatter all over Egypt to gather straw.