¹Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go to worship me. ²If you refuse to let them go, I will bring a plague of frogs on your whole country. ³The Nile River will swarm with frogs. They will come into your palace, into your bedroom, on your bed, into the houses of your officials, on your people, into your ovens and into your mixing bowls. ⁴The frogs will jump on you, on your people, and on all your officials.’ ”

⁵Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Hold your staff over the rivers, canals, and ponds. This will bring frogs onto the land.’ ”

⁶So Aaron held his staff over the waters of Egypt. The frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. ⁷But the magicians did the same thing using their magic spells and brought frogs onto the land.

⁸Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray that the Lord will take the frogs away from me and my people. Then I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

⁹Moses answered Pharaoh, “You may have the honor of choosing when I should pray for you, your officials, and your people. Then the frogs will leave you and your homes. The only ones left will be those in the Nile.”

¹⁰“Pray for me tomorrow,” Pharaoh said.

Moses replied, “It will be as you say so that you will know that there is no one like the Lord our God. ¹¹The frogs will leave you, your homes, your officials, and your people. The only frogs left will be those in the Nile.”

¹²After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses prayed to the Lord about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. ¹³The Lord did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the yards, and in the fields. ¹⁴They were piled into countless heaps, and the land began to stink because of them.

¹⁵When Pharaoh saw that the plague was over, he became stubborn and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, as the Lord had predicted.

The Third Plague—Gnats

¹⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Hold out your staff and strike the dust on the ground. All over Egypt the dust will turn into gnats.’ ”

¹⁷When Moses told him, Aaron held out the staff in his hand and struck the dust on the ground. It turned into gnats that bit people and animals. All the dust on the ground everywhere in Egypt turned into gnats.

¹⁸The magicians also tried to produce gnats using their magic spells, but they couldn’t do it. The gnats bit people and animals. ¹⁹So the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the hand of God!”

Yet, Pharaoh continued to be stubborn and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, as the Lord had predicted.

The Fourth Plague—Flies

²⁰Then the Lord said to Moses, “Early in the morning, stand in Pharaoh’s way when he’s going to the Nile. Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go to worship me.

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