Exodus 10
10
The Plague of Locusts
1Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. I have made him stubborn. I have also made his officials stubborn so I can perform my signs among them. 2Then you will be able to tell your children and grandchildren how hard I was on the Egyptians. You can tell them I performed my signs among the people of Egypt. And all of you will know that I am the Lord.”
3So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They said to him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says, ‘How long will you refuse to obey me? Let my people go. Then they will be able to worship me. 4If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. 5They will cover the ground so that it can’t be seen. They will eat what little you have left after the hail. That includes every tree growing in your fields. 6They will fill your houses. They will be in the homes of all your officials and your people. Your parents and your people before them have never seen anything like it as long as they have lived here.’ ” Then Moses turned around and left Pharaoh.
7Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a trap for us? Let the people go. Then they’ll be able to worship the Lord their God. After everything that’s happened, don’t you realize that Egypt is destroyed?”
8Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go. Worship the Lord your God,” he said. “But tell me who will be going.”
9Moses answered, “We’ll go with our young people and old people. We’ll go with our sons and daughters. We’ll take our flocks and herds. We are supposed to hold a feast to honor the Lord.”
10Pharaoh said, “Suppose I ever let you go, along with your women and children. Then the Lord really will be with all of you! Clearly you are planning to do something bad. 11No! I’ll only allow the men to go and worship the Lord. After all, that’s what you have been asking for.” Then Pharaoh drove Moses and Aaron out of his sight.
12The Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand over Egypt so that locusts cover the land. They will eat up everything growing in the fields. They will eat up everything left by the hail.”
13So Moses reached out his walking stick over Egypt. Then the Lord made an east wind blow across the land. It blew all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts. 14Large numbers of them came down in every part of Egypt. There had never been a plague of locusts like it before. And there will never be one like it again. 15The locusts covered the ground until it was black. They ate up everything left after the hail. They ate up everything growing in the fields. They ate up the fruit on the trees. There was nothing green left on any tree or plant in the whole land of Egypt.
16Pharaoh quickly sent for Moses and Aaron. He said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God. I’ve also sinned against you. 17Now forgive my sin one more time. Pray to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away from me.”
18After Moses left Pharaoh, he prayed to the Lord. 19The Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind. It picked up the locusts. It blew them into the Red Sea. Not even one locust was left anywhere in Egypt. 20But the Lord made Pharaoh stubborn. So Pharaoh wouldn’t let the people of Israel go.
The Plague of Darkness
21The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “Reach out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt. It will be so dark that people can feel it.” 22So Moses reached out his hand toward the sky. Then complete darkness covered Egypt for three days. 23No one could see anyone else or go anywhere for three days. But all the people of Israel had light where they lived.
24Then Pharaoh sent for Moses. He said to him, “Go. Worship the Lord. Even your women and children can go with you. Just leave your flocks and herds behind.”
25But Moses said, “You must allow us to take our animals. We need to offer them as sacrifices and burnt offerings to the Lord our God. 26Our livestock must also go with us. We have to use some of them to worship the Lord our God. We can’t leave even one animal behind. Until we get there, we won’t know what we are supposed to use to worship the Lord.”
27But the Lord made Pharaoh stubborn. So he wouldn’t let the people go. 28Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you don’t come to see me again! If you do, you will die.”
29“I’ll do just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never come to see you again.”
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
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Exodus 10
10
Invasion of locusts
1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. I’ve made him and his officials stubborn so that I can show them my signs 2and so that you can tell your children and grandchildren how I overpowered the Egyptians with the signs I did among them. You will know that I am the LORD.”
3So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the LORD, the Hebrews’ God, says: How long will you refuse to respect me? Let my people go so that they can worship me. 4Otherwise, if you refuse to let my people go, I’m going to bring locusts into your country tomorrow. 5They will cover the landscape so that you won’t be able to see the ground. They will eat the last bit of vegetation that was left after the hail. They will eat all your trees growing in the fields. 6The locusts will fill your houses and all your officials’ houses and all the Egyptians’ houses. Your parents and even your grandparents have never seen anything like it during their entire lifetimes in this fertile land.” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.
7Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man trap us in a corner like this? Let the people go so that they can worship the LORD their God. Don’t you get it? Egypt is being destroyed!”
8So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go! Worship the LORD your God! But who exactly is going with you?”
9Moses said, “We’ll go with our young and old, with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we all must observe the LORD’s festival.”
10Pharaoh said to them, “Yes, the LORD will be with you, all right, especially if I let your children go with you! Obviously, you are plotting some evil scheme. 11No way! Only your men can go and worship the LORD, because that’s what you asked for.” Then Pharaoh had them chased out of his presence.
12Then the LORD said to Moses: “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt so that the locusts will swarm over the land of Egypt and eat all of the land’s grain and everything that the hail left.” 13So Moses stretched out his shepherd’s rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD made an east wind blow over the land all that day and all that night. When morning came, the east wind had carried in the locusts. 14The locusts swarmed over the whole land of Egypt and settled on the whole country. Such a huge swarming of locusts had never happened before and would never happen ever again. 15They covered the whole landscape so that the land turned black with them. They ate all of the land’s grain and all of the orchards’ fruit that the hail had left. Nothing green was left in any orchard or in any grain field in the whole land of Egypt.
16Pharaoh called urgently for Moses and Aaron and said, “I’ve sinned against the LORD your God and against you. 17Please forgive my sin this time. Pray to the LORD your God just to take this deathly disaster away from me.”
18So Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD. 19The LORD turned the wind into a very strong west wind that lifted the locusts and drove them into the Reed Sea.#10.19 Or Red Sea Not a single locust was left in the whole country of Egypt. 20But the LORD made Pharaoh stubborn so that he wouldn’t let the Israelites go.
Darkness covers Egypt
21Then the LORD said to Moses, “Raise your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over the land of Egypt, a darkness that you can feel.” 22So Moses raised his hand toward the sky, and an intense darkness fell on the whole land of Egypt for three days. 23People couldn’t see each other, and they couldn’t go anywhere for three days. But the Israelites all had light where they lived.
24Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go! Worship the LORD! Only your flocks and herds need to stay behind. Even your children can go with you.”
25But Moses said, “You need to let us have sacrifices and entirely burned offerings to present to the LORD our God. 26So our livestock must go with us. Not one animal can be left behind. We’ll need some of them for worshipping the LORD our God. We won’t know which to use to worship the LORD until we get there.”
27But the LORD made Pharaoh stubborn so that he wasn’t willing to let them go. 28Pharaoh said to him, “Get out of here! Make sure you never see my face again, because the next time you see my face you will die.”
29Moses said, “You’ve said it! I’ll never see your face again!”
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