We saw in the previous chapter that things were not going well for the people of Israel, but when Moses takes this to God, his answer (verses 1-8) is essentially:

Remember who I am, and leave all this to me

However, here is how two English Bibles describe the people's response when Moses communicates this positive message back to them (see verse 9):

They did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery (ESV = quite a literal translation)

They refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery (NLT = a bit more free-flowing)

We get the picture. The people were really at rock bottom - so much so that they were not even able to hear the encouraging message Moses brought them. I guess that a similar thing can happen to us today - we can get so locked into an attitude of despair that we are unable to hear God's voice.

But if we stand back from the story, we can see that another piece is falling into place in the unfolding drama of Exodus: help was not going to come from:

Pharaoh (his heart was getting harder and harder)
Moses (all his attempts to resolve things had failed)
The people themselves (they were too disheartened)

Eventually everyone will need to accept what God is saying:

Remember who I am, and leave all this to me