13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
Exodus 5
6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen,7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves.8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’9 Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”10 So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw.11 Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’”12 So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.13 The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.”
