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
1The Lord told Moses, “Go and see Pharaoh, because it was me who gave him and his officials a stubborn attitude so that I may perform my miracles before them. 2This is so you can tell your children and grandchildren how I made the Egyptians look foolish#10:2. “Look foolish”: the word suggests that the Lord is mocking the Egyptians, and primarily this would be over their devotion to worthless idols. by doing these miracles among them, and so that you may know that I am the Lord.”
3Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long are you going to refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they can worship me. 4If you refuse to let my people leave, tomorrow I will send a plague of locusts into your country. 5There will be so many of them that they'll cover the ground so no one can see it. They will eat whatever crops were left by the hail, as well as every tree growing in your fields. 6They will swarm into your houses and into the houses of all your officials—in fact into the houses of every Egyptian. This is something that none of your forefathers ever saw from the time they arrived in this country.’” Then Moses and Aaron turned and left Pharaoh.
7Pharaoh's officials came to him and asked, “How long are you going to let this man cause us trouble?#10:7. “Cause us trouble”: literally, “be a snare to us.” Let these people go so they can worship the Lord their God. Don't you realize that Egypt has been destroyed?”
8Moses and Aaron were brought back to see Pharaoh. “Go and worship the Lord your God,” he told them. “But who of you will be going?”
9“We will all go,” Moses replied. “Young and old, sons and daughters—and we'll take our flocks and herds with us, for we're going to have a religious festival for the Lord.”
10“The Lord really would have to be with you if I let your children go with you!” Pharaoh answered. “Clearly you're planning some kind of evil trick! 11So no! Only the men can go and worship the Lord, because that's what you've been asking for.” Then he had Moses and Aaron thrown out.
12The Lord told Moses, “Lift up your hand over Egypt, so that the locusts may swarm over it and eat every plant in the country—everything that was left by the hail.”
13Moses held out his staff over Egypt, and all through that day and night the Lord sent an east wind blowing over the land. By the time morning came the east wind had brought in the locusts.
14The locusts swarmed across the land and settled in every part of the country. There had never been such a swarm of locusts ever before, and there won't be ever again. 15They covered the ground until it looked black, and they ate up all the plants in the fields and all the fruit on the trees that had been left by the hail. Not a single green leaf was left on any tree or plant anywhere in Egypt.
16Pharaoh called urgently for Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. 17So please forgive my sin just this one time and plead with the Lord your God, asking him to at least take away this deathly plague from me.”
18Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. 19The Lord changed the direction of the wind so that a strong westerly wind blew the locusts into the Red Sea. There wasn't a single locust left anywhere in Egypt. 20But the Lord made Pharaoh stubborn, and he would not let the Israelites go.
21The Lord told Moses, “Lift your hand toward the sky so that darkness will fall over Egypt, darkness so thick that it can be felt.”
22Moses lifted up his hand toward heaven, and the whole of Egypt went completely dark for three days. 23No one could see anyone else, and no one moved from where they were for three days. But there was still light where all the Israelites lived.
24Eventually Pharaoh called for Moses. “Go and worship the Lord,” he said. “Just leave your flocks and herds here. You can even take your children with you.”
25But Moses replied, “You must also let us have animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings, so we can offer them to the Lord our God. 26Our livestock have to go with us too—not a single animal will be left behind. We'll need some of them to worship the Lord our God, and we won't know how we are to worship the Lord until we get there.”
27But the Lord made Pharaoh stubborn, and he would not let them go. 28Pharaoh shouted at Moses, “Get out of here! I don't want to see you ever again! If I ever do see you again you'll die!”
29“May it be as you say,” Moses replied. “I won't see you again.”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com