Pharaoh rejects the LORD and increases Israel's labor
Moses and Aaron asked Pharaoh to let Israel hold a feast to the LORD. Pharaoh refused, withheld straw while demanding the same number of bricks, and Israel's foremen blamed Moses and Aaron for their harsher treatment (Exodus 5:1-23).
1After that, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’” 2But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.” 3“The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they answered. “Please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”