Exodus 5:6-9 ▼

6 The very same day Pharaoh gave orders to the [Egyptian] taskmasters in charge of the people and their [Hebrew] foremen, saying,

7 “You will no longer give the people straw to make brick as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves.

8 But the number of bricks which they were making before, you shall [still] require of them; you are not to reduce it in the least. For they are idle and lazy; that is why they cry, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’

9 Let labor be heavier on the men, and let them work [hard] at it so that they will pay no attention to [their God’s] lying words.”