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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Exodus 5 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/exodus/5.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/exodus/5-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Exodus 5</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../exodus/4.htm" title="Exodus 4">◄</a> Exodus 5 <a href="../exodus/6.htm" title="Exodus 6">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Moses and Aaron Go to the King of Egypt</h3><p class="par"><span class="v1_5_1"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.1" class="v1_5_1">1</span>Moses and Aaron went to the king<a href="#fn" id="link_Exod.5.1!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> of Egypt and told him, “The <span class="nd">Lord</span> God says, ‘Let my people go into the desert, so they can honor me with a celebration there.’ ”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_5_2"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.2" class="v1_5_2">2</span>“Who is this <span class="nd">Lord</span> and why should I obey him?” the king replied. “I refuse to let you and your people go!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_5_3"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.3" class="v1_5_3">3</span>They answered, “The <span class="nd">Lord</span> God of the Hebrews has appeared to us. Please let us walk three days into the desert where we can offer sacrifices to him. If you don't, he may strike us down with terrible troubles or with war.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_5_4"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.4-Exod.5.5" class="v1_5_4">4-5</span>The king said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you keeping these people from working? Look how many you are keeping from doing their work. Now everyone get back to work!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_5_6"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.6" class="v1_5_6">6</span>That same day the king gave orders to his Egyptian slave bosses and to the Israelite men directly in charge of the Israelite slaves. He told them:</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v1_5_7"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.7" class="v1_5_7">7</span>Don't give the slaves any more straw<a href="#fn" id="link_Exod.5.7!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> to put in their bricks. Force them to find their own straw wherever they can, </span><span class="v1_5_8"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.8" class="v1_5_8">8</span>but they must make the same number of bricks as before. They are lazy, or else they would not beg me to let them go and sacrifice to their God. </span><span class="v1_5_9"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.9" class="v1_5_9">9</span>Make them work so hard that they won't have time to listen to these lies.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_5_10"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.10" class="v1_5_10">10</span>The slave bosses and the men in charge of the slaves went out and told them, “The king says he will not give you any more straw. </span><span class="v1_5_11"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.11" class="v1_5_11">11</span>Go and find your own straw wherever you can, but you must still make as many bricks as before.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_5_12"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.12" class="v1_5_12">12</span>The slaves went all over Egypt, looking for straw. </span><span class="v1_5_13"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.13" class="v1_5_13">13</span>But the slave bosses were hard on them and kept saying, “Each day you have to make as many bricks as you did when you were given straw.” </span><span class="v1_5_14"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.14" class="v1_5_14">14</span>The bosses beat the men in charge of the slaves and said, “Why didn't you force the slaves to make as many bricks yesterday and today as they did before?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_5_15"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.15" class="v1_5_15">15</span>Finally, the men in charge of the slaves went to the king and said, “Why are you treating us like this? </span><span class="v1_5_16"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.16" class="v1_5_16">16</span>No one brings us any straw, but we are still ordered to make the same number of bricks. We are beaten with whips, and your own people are to blame.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_5_17"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.17" class="v1_5_17">17</span>The king replied, “You are lazy—nothing but lazy! That's why you keep asking me to let you go and sacrifice to your <span class="nd">Lord</span>. </span><span class="v1_5_18"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.18" class="v1_5_18">18</span>Get back to work! You won't be given straw, but you must still make the same number of bricks.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v1_5_19"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.19" class="v1_5_19">19</span>The men knew they were in deep trouble when they were ordered to make the same number of bricks each day. </span><span class="v1_5_20"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.20" class="v1_5_20">20</span>After they left the king, they went to see Moses and Aaron, who had been waiting for them. </span><span class="v1_5_21"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.21" class="v1_5_21">21</span>Then the men said, “We hope the <span class="nd">Lord</span> will punish both of you for making the king and his officials hate us. Now they even have an excuse to kill us.”</span></p><h3 class="s1">The <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s Promise to Moses</h3><p class="par"><span class="v1_5_22"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.22" class="v1_5_22">22</span>Moses left them and prayed, “Our <span class="nd">Lord</span>, why have you brought so much trouble on your people? Is that why you sent me here? </span><span class="v1_5_23"><span class="reftext" id="Exod.5.23" class="v1_5_23">23</span>Ever since you told me to speak to the king,<a href="#fn" id="link_Exod.5.23!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> he has caused nothing but trouble for these people. And you haven't done a thing to help.”</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">5.1 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">the king: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See the note at 1.11.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">5.7 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">straw: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">The straw made the mud bricks stronger and kept them from shrinking, cracking, or losing their shape.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">5.23 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">the king: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See the note at 1.11.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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