Exodus 5:10-14 ▼

10 So the overseers and foremen of the people went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I am not giving you straw.

11 Go get straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but there will be no reduction at all in your workload.’ ”

12 So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

13 The overseers insisted, “Finish your assigned work each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”

14 Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s slave drivers had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why haven’t you finished making your prescribed number of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before? ”