Exodus 5:4
And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens. And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.
Pharaoh accused Moses and Aaron of drawing the Hebrews, the Israelites, away from their work and labor and ordered them back to their burdens. He spoke to them in anger. He dismissed their request for the people to worship God as idleness and as an interruption of labor.
He understood their effort as an attempt to restore Sabbath observance by making the people rest from work. He suspected that the growing independence of the people could lead to revolt. His reply was a haughty refusal to recognize God's authority. His response began a harsher oppression of the Israelites by tightening their burdens.