Exodus 8:20–9:12

²⁰And Jehovah said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh—behold, he will go out to the water—and say to him, Thus saith Jehovah, Let my people go, that they may serve me. ²¹For, if thou do not let my people go, behold, I will send dog-flies upon thee, and upon thy bondmen, and upon thy people, and into thy houses; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of dog-flies, and also the ground on which they are. ²²And I will distinguish in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no dog-flies shall be there; that thou mayest know that I Jehovah am in the midst of the land. ²³And I will put a separation between my people and thy people; to-morrow shall this sign be. ²⁴And Jehovah did so; and there came dog-flies in a multitude into the house of Pharaoh, and into the houses of his bondmen; and throughout the land of Egypt, the land was corrupted by the dog-flies. ²⁵And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, Go, sacrifice to your God in the land. ²⁶And Moses said, It is not proper to do so; for we should sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to Jehovah our God: lo, if we sacrificed the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, would they not stone us? ²⁷We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Jehovah our God, as he shall command us. ²⁸And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to Jehovah your God in the wilderness; only, go not very far away: intreat for me! ²⁹And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and will intreat Jehovah; and the dog-flies will depart from Pharaoh, from his bondmen, and from his people, to-morrow; only let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to Jehovah. ³⁰And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated Jehovah. ³¹And Jehovah did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the dog-flies from Pharaoh, from his bondmen, and from his people; there remained not one. ³²And Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and would not let the people go.

Chapter 9

¹And Jehovah said to Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go, that they may serve me. ²For if thou refuse to let them go, and shalt retain them still, ³behold, the hand of Jehovah shall be on thy cattle which is in the field, on the horses, on the asses, on the camels, on the oxen and on the sheep, with a very grievous plague. ⁴And Jehovah will distinguish between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt; and there shall nothing die of all that the children of Israel have. ⁵And Jehovah appointed a set time, saying, To-morrow will Jehovah do this thing in the land. ⁶And Jehovah did this thing on the following day, and all the cattle of Egypt died; but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one. ⁷And Pharaoh sent, and behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

⁸And Jehovah said to Moses and to Aaron, Take to yourselves handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens before the eyes of Pharaoh. ⁹And it shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and shall become boils on man and on cattle, breaking out with blisters, throughout the land of Egypt. ¹⁰And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it toward the heavens; and it became boils with blisters breaking out on man and on cattle. ¹¹And the scribes could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boils were on the scribes, and on all the Egyptians. ¹²And Jehovah made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn, and he did not hearken to them, as Jehovah had told Moses.