Exodus 5:6-8

New Century Version

⁶ That same day the king gave a command to the slave masters and foremen. ⁷ He said, “Don’t give the people straw to make bricks as you used to do. Let them gather their own straw. ⁸ But they must still make the same number of bricks as they did before. Do not accept fewer. They have become lazy, and that is why they are asking me, ‘Let us go to offer sacrifices to our God.’