¹⁷ Pharaoh said, “You are lazy! That’s why you keep saying, ‘Let us go. We want to offer sacrifices to the Lord.’ ¹⁸ Now get to work. We won’t give you any straw. But you still have to make the same number of bricks.”

¹⁹ The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble. They knew it when they were told, “Don’t reduce the number of bricks you are required to make each day.”