Exodus 10–12

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

10Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may do these miraculous signs of Mine among them, ^fg2and so that you may tell ^hyour son and grandson ⁱhow severely I dealt with the Egyptians and performed miraculous signs among them, and you will know that I am Yahweh.”

³So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may worship Me. ^j4But if you refuse to let My people go, then tomorrow I will bring locusts ^kinto your territory. ⁵They will cover the surface of the land so that no one will be able to see the land. They will eat the remainder left ^lto you that escaped the hail; they will eat every tree you have growing in the fields. ⁶They will fill your houses, all your officials’ houses, and the houses of all the Egyptians—something your fathers and ancestors never saw since the time they occupied the land until today.” Then he turned and left Pharaoh’s presence.

⁷Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long must this man be a snare ^mto us? Let the men go, so that they may worship Yahweh their God. Don’t you realize yet that Egypt is devastated?”

⁸So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship Yahweh your God,” Pharaoh said. “But exactly who will be going?”

⁹Moses replied, “We will go with our young and our old; we will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds because we must hold Yahweh’s festival.” ⁿ

¹⁰He said to them, “May Yahweh be with you if I ever let you and your families go! ^oLook out—you are planning evil. ¹¹No, only the men may go and worship Yahweh, for that is what you have been asking for.” And they were driven from Pharaoh’s presence.

¹²The Lord then said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt and the locusts will come up over it and eat every plant in the land, everything that the hail left.” ¹³So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord sent an east wind over the land all that day and through the night. By morning the east wind had brought in the locusts. ¹⁴The locusts went up over the entire land of Egypt and settled on the whole territory of Egypt. Never before had there been such a large number of locusts, and there never will be again. ^p15They covered the surface of the whole land so that the land was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on the trees or the plants in the field throughout the land of Egypt. ^q

¹⁶Pharaoh urgently sent for Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against Yahweh your God and against you. ¹⁷Please forgive my sin once more and make an appeal to Yahweh your God, so that He will take this death away from me.” ¹⁸Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and appealed to the Lord. ^r19Then the Lord changed the wind to a strong west ^swind, and it carried off the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. ^tNot a single locust was left in all the territory of Egypt. ²⁰But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, ^uand he did not let the Israelites go.

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

²¹Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.” ²²So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days. ²³One person could not see another, and for three days they did not move from where they were. Yet all the Israelites had light where they lived. ^v

²⁴Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship Yahweh. Even your families may go with you; only your flocks and herds must stay behind.”

²⁵Moses responded, “You must also let us have ^wsacrifices and burnt offerings to prepare for Yahweh our God. ²⁶Even our livestock must go with us; not a hoof will be left behind because we will take some of them to worship Yahweh our God. We will not know what we will use to worship Yahweh until we get there.”

²⁷But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, ^xand he was unwilling to let them go. ²⁸Pharaoh said to him, “Leave me! Make sure you never see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you will die.”

²⁹“As you have said,” Moses replied, “I will never see your face again.” ^y

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

11The Lord said ^zto Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, ^ahe will drive you out of here. ²Now announce to the people that both men and women should ask their neighbors for silver and gold jewelry.” ³The Lord gave ^bthe people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. And the man Moses was highly regarded ^cin the land of Egypt by ^dPharaoh’s officials and the people. ^e

⁴So Moses said, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt, ⁵and every firstborn male in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the servant girl who is behind the millstones, as well as every firstborn of the livestock. ⁶Then there will be a great cry of anguish through all the land of Egypt such as never was before, or ever will be again. ⁷But against all the Israelites, whether man or beast, not even a dog will snarl, ^fso that you may know that Yahweh makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. ⁸All these officials of yours will come down to me and bow before me, saying: Leave, you and all the people who follow you. ^gAfter that, I will leave.’ ” And he left Pharaoh’s presence in fierce anger. ^h

⁹The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen ⁱto you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, ^jand he would not let the Israelites go out of his land.

Instructions for the Passover

12The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ²“This month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is the first month of your year. ^k3Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they must each select an animal of the flock according to their fathers’ households, one animal per household. ⁴If the household is too small for a whole animal, that person and the neighbor nearest his house are to select one based on the combined number of people; you should apportion the animal according to what each person ^lwill eat. ⁵You must have an unblemished ^manimal, a year-old male; you may take it from either the sheep or the goats. ⁶You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight. ⁿ⁷They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat them. ⁸They are to eat the meat that night; they should eat it, roasted over the fire along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ^o9Do not eat any of it raw or cooked in boiling ^pwater, but only roasted ^qover fire—its head as well as its legs and inner organs. ¹⁰Do not let any of it remain until morning; ^ryou must burn up any part of it that does remain before morning. ¹¹Here is how you must eat it: you must be dressed for travel, ^syour sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the Lord’s Passover. ^t

¹²“I will pass through ^uthe land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. I am Yahweh; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. ^v13The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴“This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute. ^w15You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you must remove yeast ^xfrom your houses. Whoever eats what is leavened from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off ^yfrom Israel. ¹⁶You are to hold a sacred assembly ^zon the first day and another sacred assembly on the seventh day. No work may be done on those days except for preparing what people need to eat—you may do only that.

¹⁷“You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread because on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. ^aYou must observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent statute. ¹⁸You are to eat unleavened bread in the first month, ^bfrom the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day. ¹⁹Yeast must not be found in your houses for seven days. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreign resident or native of the land, must be cut off from the community of Israel. ²⁰Do not eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.” ^c

²¹Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, select an animal from the flock according to your families, and slaughter the Passover animal. ^d22Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it in the blood ^ethat is in the basin, and brush the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood in the basin. None of you may go out the door of his house until morning. ²³When the Lord passes through to strike Egypt and sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, He will pass over the door and not let the destroyer enter your houses to strike you. ^f

²⁴“Keep this command permanently as a statute for you and your descendants. ²⁵When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as He promised, you are to observe this ritual. ²⁶When your children ^gask you, ‘What does this ritual mean to you?’ ²⁷you are to reply, ‘It is the…