And the Lord said to Aaron, "Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." And he went, and met him in the mountain of God, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord wherewith he had sent him, and all the signs wherewith he had charged him. And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: and Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed. "LET MY PEOPLE GO." _Moses and Aaron Demand the Release of the Israelites_. _Pharaoh Refuses_. And afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, "Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.'" And Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should hearken to his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go." {150} And they said, "The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword." And the king of Egypt said to them, "Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, loose the people from their works? get you to your burdens." And Pharaoh said, "Behold, the people of the land are now many, and ye make them rest from their burdens." And the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, "Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the number of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish aught thereof: for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.' Let heavier work be laid upon the men, that they may labor therein; and let them not regard lying words." And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, "Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go yourselves, get you straw where ye can find it: for naught of your work shall be diminished." So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. And the taskmasters were urgent, saying, "Fulfill your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw." And the officers of the children of Israel, which {151} Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, "Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task both yesterday and to-day, in making brick as heretofore?" Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, "Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants? There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, 'Make brick': and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people."