Exodus 10–11

Plague Eight: Locusts

10And Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have made his heart insensitive^a and the heart of his servants in order to put these signs of mine in his midst, ²so that you will tell in the ears of your child and your grandchild^b that I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and so that you will tell about my signs that I have done among them, and so you will know that I am Yahweh.”

³And Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and they said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, ‘Until when will you refuse to submit before me? Release my people so that they may serve me. ⁴But if you are refusing to release my people, look, I am about to bring locusts into your territory tomorrow. ⁵And they will cover the surface of the land, and no one will be able to see the land, and they will eat the remainder of what is left—what is left over for you from the hail—and they will eat every sprouting tree belonging to you from the field. ⁶And your houses will be full, and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all Egypt, something that your fathers and your grandfathers^c never saw from the day they were on the earth until this day.’ ” And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

⁷And the servants of Pharaoh said to him, “Until when will this be a snare for us? Release the men so that they may serve Yahweh their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?” ⁸And Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Serve Yahweh your God. Who are the ones going?^{d 9}And Moses said, “With our young and with our old we will go; with our sons and with our daughters, with our sheep and goats and with our cattle we will go because it is the feast of Yahweh for us.” ¹⁰And he said to them, “Let Yahweh be thus with you as soon as I release you and your dependents.^e See that evil is before your faces. ¹¹No indeed;^f just the men^g go and serve Yahweh, since this is what you are seeking.” And he drove them out from the presence of Pharaoh.

¹²And Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt with the locusts so that they may come up over the land of Egypt, and let them eat all the vegetation of the land, all that the hail left behind.” ¹³And Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh drove an east wind into the land all that day and all night. The morning came, and the east wind had brought the locusts. ¹⁴And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and they settled in all the territory of Egypt, very severe.^h Before it there were not locusts like them, nor will there be after it. ¹⁵And they covered the surface of all the land, and the land was dark with them, and they ate all the vegetation of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left, and no green was left in the trees nor in the vegetation of the field in all the land of Egypt.

¹⁶And Pharaoh hurried to call Moses and Aaron, and he said, “I have sinned against Yahweh your God and against you. ¹⁷And now forgive my sin surely this time, and pray to Yahweh your God so that he may only remove from me this death.” ¹⁸And he went out from Pharaoh, and he prayed to Yahweh. ¹⁹And Yahweh turned a very strong west windⁱ and lifted up the locusts and thrust them into the Red Sea,^j and not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt. ²⁰And Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not release the Israelites.^k

Plague Nine: Darkness

²¹And Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the heavens so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt and so that a person can feel darkness.” ²²And Moses stretched out his hand toward the heavens, and there was darkness of night in all the land of Egypt for three days. ²³No one could see his brother, and because of it no one could move from where they were^l for three days, but there was light for the Israelites^m in their dwellings.

²⁴And Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve Yahweh. Only your sheep and goats and your cattle must be left behind. Your dependentsⁿ may also go with you.” ²⁵And Moses said, “Even if you yourself put into our hand sacrifices and burnt offerings and we offer them to Yahweh our God, ²⁶our livestock must also go with us. Not a hoof can be left because we must take from them to serve Yahweh our God. And we will not know with what we are to serve Yahweh until we come there.” ²⁷And Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to release them. ²⁸And Pharaoh said to him, “Go from me. Be careful^o not to see my face again, because on the day of your seeing my face you will die.” ²⁹And Moses said, “That is right.^p I will not again see your face.”^q

Announcement of the Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

11And Yahweh said to Moses, “Still one plague I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; afterward he will release you from here. At the moment of his releasing, he will certainly drive you completely out from here. ²Speak in the ears of the people, and let them ask, a man from his neighbor and a woman from her neighbor, for objects of silver and objects of gold.” ³And Yahweh gave the people favor in the eyes of Egypt. Also the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of the servants of Pharaoh and in the eyes of the people.

⁴And Moses said, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘About the middle of the night I will go out through the midst of Egypt, ⁵and every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the slave woman who is behind the pair of millstones and every firstborn animal.^{a 6}And there will be a great cry of distress in all the land of Egypt, the like of which has not been nor will be again.^{b 7}But against all the Israelites,^c from a man to an animal, a dog will not even bark,^d so that you will know that Yahweh makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ ⁸And all of these your servants will come down to me and bow to me, saying, ‘Go out, you and all the people who are at your feet.’ And afterward I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.^e

⁹And Yahweh said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my wonders may multiply^f in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not release the Israelites^g from his land.