Exodus 8
8
1Then the Lord told Moses, “Go and see Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they can worship me. 2If you refuse to let them leave, I will send a plague of frogs all over your country. 3They will swarm out of the Nile, and they will enter your palace and get into your bedroom and jump onto your bed. They will get into the houses of your officials and jump around your people—even into your ovens and breadmaking bowls. 4Frogs will jump all over you, your people, and all your officials.’”
5The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Hold out your walking stick in your hand over the rivers and canals and ponds, and make frogs spread over Egypt.’” 6So Aaron held out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and frogs came up and covered the land. 7But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing using their magic arts. They brought up frogs in Egypt.
8Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and pleaded with them, “Pray to the Lord, and ask him to take away the frogs from me and my people. Then I will let your people go so they can offer sacrifices to the Lord.”
9“You may have the honor of deciding#8:9. “You may have the honor of deciding”: literally, “Glorify yourself over me.” when I'll pray for you, your officials, and your people that the frogs will be removed from you and your houses. They will remain only in the Nile.”
10“Do it tomorrow,” Pharaoh replied.
Moses said, “It will happen as you have requested so you will know that there is no one like the Lord our God. 11The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people, and they will remain only in the Nile.”
12Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, and Moses pleaded with the Lord about the frogs he had sent against Pharaoh. 13The Lord did as Moses asked. The frogs in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields died. 14The people collected them in pile upon pile, and the whole country smelled terrible. 15But when Pharaoh realized the plague had passed, he chose to become hard and stubborn again, and wouldn't listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had predicted.
16The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Pick up your walking stick and hit the dust of the ground. The dust will become gnats#8:16. The exact insect mentioned here is not known with certainty. The Hebrew suggests “annoying insect,” and has been variously translated as lice, mosquitoes, or fleas in addition to gnats. However, some form of small biting flying insect like a gnat would best fit the context of “dust.” swarming all over Egypt.’”
17They did what the Lord said. When Aaron lifted up his walking stick and hit the dust of the earth, gnats swarmed over both people and animals. The dust in the whole of Egypt turned into gnats. 18The magicians also tried to make gnats using their magic arts, but they couldn't. The gnats stayed on both people and animals.
19“This is an act of God,”#8:19. “This is an act of God”: literally, “It is the finger of God.” the magicians told Pharaoh. But Pharaoh chose to be stubbornly hard-hearted, and he wouldn't listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had predicted.
20The Lord told Moses, “Tomorrow morning get up early and block Pharaoh's way as he walks down to the river. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they can worship me. 21If you don't let my people leave, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, and on your people and your houses. Every Egyptian house and even the ground on which they stand will be filled with swarms of flies. 22However, on this occasion I will treat the land of Goshen differently—that's where my people live—there won't be any swarms of flies there. This is how you will know that I, the Lord, am here in your country. 23I will distinguish#8:23. The Hebrew has “redemption” here, but it appears to be a slip of the pen. The Septuagint reading is followed here. my people from your people. You will see this sign that confirms it tomorrow.’”
24The Lord did what he had said. Huge swarms of flies swept into Pharaoh's palace and into the houses of his officials. The whole of Egypt was devastated because of these swarms of flies.
25Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and told them, “Go and offer sacrifices to your God here in this country.”
26“No, that wouldn't be the right thing to do,” Moses replied. “The sacrifices we offer to the Lord our God would be offensive to Egyptians. If we went ahead and offered sacrifices offensive to Egyptians, they'd stone us! 27We must make a three-day journey into the wilderness and offer sacrifices there to the Lord our God as he has told us.”
28“I'll let you go and offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the desert, but don't go very far,” Pharaoh answered. “Now pray for me that this plague ends.”#8:28. “That this plague ends.” Implied.
29“As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord,” Moses replied, “and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. But Pharaoh should be sure not to be deceitful again and refuse to let the people go and offer sacrifices to the Lord.”
30Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, 31and the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Not a single fly remained. 32But once again Pharaoh chose to be stubbornly hard-hearted and would not let the people leave.
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Exodus 8: FBV
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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
Exodus 8
8
1Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. Tell him, ‘The Lord says, “Let my people go. Then they will be able to worship me. 2If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. 3The Nile River will be full of frogs. They will come up into your palace. You will have frogs in your bedroom and on your bed. They will be in the homes of your officials and your people. They will be in your ovens and in the bowls for kneading your bread. 4The frogs will be on you, your people and all your officials.” ’ ”
5Then the Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “Tell Aaron, ‘Reach out your hand. Hold your walking stick over the streams, canals and ponds. Make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’ ”
6So Aaron reached out his hand over the waters of Egypt. The frogs came up and covered the land. 7But the magicians did the same things by doing their magic tricks. They also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.
8Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. He said to them, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people. Then I’ll let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”
9Moses said to Pharaoh, “You can have the honor of setting the time for me to pray. I will pray for you, your officials and your people. I’ll pray that the frogs will leave you and your homes. The only frogs left will be the ones in the Nile River.”
10“Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said.
Moses replied, “It will happen just as you say. Then you will know that there is no one like the Lord our God. 11The frogs will leave you and your houses. They will leave your officials and your people. The frogs will remain only in the Nile River.”
12Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh. Then Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. 13And the Lord did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, courtyards and fields. 14The Egyptians piled them up. The land smelled very bad because of them. 15But when Pharaoh saw that the frogs were dead, he became stubborn. He wouldn’t listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.
The Plague of Gnats
16Then the Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “Tell Aaron, ‘Reach out your walking stick. Strike the dust on the ground with it.’ Then all over the land of Egypt the dust will turn into gnats.” 17So they did it. Aaron reached out the stick that was in his hand. He struck the dust on the ground with it. The dust all over the land of Egypt turned into gnats. They landed on people and animals alike. 18The magicians tried to produce gnats by doing their magic tricks. But they couldn’t.
The gnats stayed on people and animals everywhere. 19So the magicians said to Pharaoh, “God’s powerful finger has done this.” But Pharaoh remained stubborn. He wouldn’t listen, just as the Lord had said.
The Plague of Flies
20Then the Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “Get up early in the morning. Talk to Pharaoh as he goes down to the Nile River. Say to him, ‘The Lord says, “Let my people go. Then they will be able to worship me. 21If you do not let my people go, I will send large numbers of flies. I will send them on you and your officials. I will send them on your people and into your homes. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies. Even the ground will be covered with them.
22“ ‘ “But on that day I will treat the area of Goshen differently from yours. That is where my people live. There will not be large numbers of flies in Goshen. Then you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. 23I will treat my people differently from yours. This sign will take place tomorrow.” ’ ”
24So the Lord did it. Huge numbers of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace. They came into the homes of his officials. All over Egypt the flies destroyed the land.
25Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. He said to them, “Go. Offer sacrifices to your God here in the land.”
26But Moses said, “That wouldn’t be right. The sacrifices we offer to the Lord our God wouldn’t be accepted by the Egyptians because of their beliefs. For that reason, they would throw stones at us and try to kill us. 27We have to take a journey that lasts about three days. We want to go into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, just as he commands us.”
28Pharaoh said, “I will let you and your people go to offer sacrifices. You can offer them to the Lord your God in the desert. But you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”
29Moses replied, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord. Tomorrow the flies will leave you. They will also leave your officials and your people. Just be sure you don’t try to trick us again. Let the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”
30Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. 31And the Lord did what Moses asked. The flies left Pharaoh, his officials and his people. Not one fly remained. 32But Pharaoh became stubborn this time also. He wouldn’t let the people go.
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