⁷ Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out^(A) because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings,

¹⁰ So the overseers and foremen of the people went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says:^(A) ‘I am not giving you straw.

¹³ The overseers insisted, “Finish your assigned work each day, just as you did when straw was provided.” ¹⁴ Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s slave drivers had set over the people, were beaten^(A) and asked, “Why haven’t you finished making your prescribed number of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”