 1 The Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants so that I might show these my signs before him. 2 Also so that you may tell in the hearing+ of your son and of your son's son, what things I have done in Egypt, and my signs that I have done among them so that you may know that I am the Lord. 3 Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go so that they may serve me. 4 If you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring the locusts into your coast. 5 They will cover the face of the land so that no one will be able to see the earth. They will eat the rest of what remains from the hail and they will eat every tree that grows out in the field. 6 They will fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians that neither your fathers nor your fathers' fathers have seen since the day they were upon the earth until this day. Then he turned and went away from Pharaoh. 7 Pharaoh's servants said to him, How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go so that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is destroyed? 8 Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh and he said to them, Go. Serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that will go? 9 Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and daughters. We will go with our flocks and herds. For we must hold a feast to the Lord. 10 He said to them, May the Lord be with you as I send you and your little children away. Watch out, for evil is before you. 11 Not so. You men go now and serve the Lord, for it is you who did desire it. So they were driven out of Pharaoh's presence. 12 The Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts so that they may come up upon the land of Egypt and eat every herb of the land, all that the hail has left. 13 Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all the night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. 14 The locusts went over all the land of Egypt and rested in all the coasts of Egypt, very numerous. Before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. 15 For they covered the face of the whole earth so that the land was darkened. They ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. And there did not remain any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt. 16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste. And he said, I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. 17 Now please, forgive my sin only this once and pray to the Lord your God so that He may take away from me this death only. 18 Then he left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. 19 The Lord turned a mighty strong west wind that took away the locusts and threw them into the Red Sea. There did not remain one locust in all the coasts of Egypt. 20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go. 21 The Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward the heavens so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, so that one may even feel the darkness. 22 Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven. And there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 23 They did not see one another nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. 24 Pharaoh called to Moses and said, You go serve the Lord. Only let your flocks and your herds be left. Let your little children also go with you. 25 Moses said, You must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. 26 Our cattle also shall go with us. There shall not be a hoof left behind. For we must take from them to serve the Lord our God. And we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we come there. 27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. 28 Pharaoh said to him, Go away from me and see me no longer. For in the day that you see me you will die. 29 Moses said, You have spoken well. I will never see you again.
|