Pressure is working. Pharaoh concedes — partially. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 8:24 records the half-surrender: I will release you to sacrifice before the Lord your God in the wilderness, only you shall not go to a greater distance. Pray, (too,) for me.
Two clauses, two lessons. Only you shall not go to a greater distance. Pharaoh cannot release control. He will let the slaves worship, but only if the worship happens within driving distance of his chariots. Three days out, he had said earlier, was already too much. The tyrant's concession always comes with a leash.
And then the second clause, more poignant: Pray, too, for me. A man who had declared himself divine is now asking a Hebrew prophet to intercede on his behalf. Pharaoh is still claiming sovereignty in one breath and begging for prayer in the next. He cannot see the contradiction because his heart has become the kind of muscle that can hold two incompatible truths at once and feel no strain.
The meturgeman does not editorialize. He simply lets the king speak. The words themselves are the self-indictment. A god does not ask for prayer. A slave-master does not set distance limits on the God who sent plagues.
The takeaway: watch what a person says at the end of a concession. The leash and the plea tell you whether the surrender is real or staged.