Exodus 8:9–32:1

⁹And Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor^c over me. When shall I pray for you and for your servants and for your people to cut off the frogs from you and from your houses? They will be left only in the Nile.” ¹⁰And he said, “Tomorrow.” And he said, “Let it be according to your word so that you will know that there is no one like Yahweh our God. ¹¹And the frogs will depart from you and from your house and from your servants. They will be left only in the Nile.”

¹²And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to Yahweh over the matter of the frogs that he had brought on Pharaoh. ¹³And Yahweh did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died from the houses, from the courtyards, and from the fields. ¹⁴And they piled them in countless heaps,^d and the land stank. ¹⁵And Pharaoh saw that there was relief, and he made his heart insensitive,^e and he did not listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.

Plague Three: Gnats

¹⁶And Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the land, and it will become gnats^f in all the land of Egypt.’ ” ¹⁷And he did so, and Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and he struck the dust of the land, and it became gnats on the humans and on the animals; all of the dust of the land became gnats in all the land of Egypt. ¹⁸And the magicians did so with their secret arts to bring out the gnats, but they were not able, and the gnats were on the humans and on the animals. ¹⁹And the magicians said to Pharaoh, “It is the finger of God.” But the heart of Pharaoh was hard, and he did not listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.

Plague Four: Flies

²⁰And Yahweh said to Moses, “Start early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Look, he is going out to the water, and you must say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Release my people so that they may serve me.” ²¹But if you are not about to release my people, look, I am about to send out flies among you and among your servants and among your people and in your houses; and the houses of Egypt will fill up with the flies and also the ground that they are on. ²²But on that day I will distinguish^g the land of Goshen, where my people are staying, by there not being flies there, so that you will know that I am Yahweh in the midst of the land. ²³And I will put a distinction between my people and your people; this sign will be tomorrow.’ ”

²⁴And Yahweh did so, and a severe^h swarm of flies came to the house of Pharaoh and the house of his servants and in all the land of Egypt; the land was ruined because of the flies. ²⁵And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and he said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.” ²⁶And Moses said, “To do so is not right, because we will sacrifice to Yahweh our God a thing detestable to the Egyptians. Look, if we sacrifice before their eyes the thing detestable to the Egyptians, will they not stone us? ²⁷We will go a journey of three days into the desert, and we will sacrifice to Yahweh our God according to what he says to us.”

²⁸And Pharaoh said, “I myself will release you, and you will sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the desert. Only surely you must not go far. Pray for me.” ²⁹And Moses said, “Look, I am going out from you, and I will pray to Yahweh so that the flies depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh again deceive us by not releasing the people to sacrifice to Yahweh.”

³⁰And Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to Yahweh. ³¹And Yahweh did according to the word of Moses and removed the flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one was left. ³²And Pharaoh made his heart insensitiveⁱ also this time, and he did not release the people.

Plague Five: Livestock Death

9And Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, “Release my people so that they may serve me.” ²But if you are refusing to release and you still are keeping hold of them, ³look, the hand of Yahweh is about to be present with a very severe^a plague on your livestock that are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the cattle, and on the sheep and goats. ⁴But Yahweh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and not a thing will die from all that belongs to the Israelites.’ ”^{b 5}And Yahweh set an appointed time, saying, “Tomorrow Yahweh will do this thing in the land.”

⁶And Yahweh did this thing the next day; all the livestock of Egypt died, but from the livestock of the Israelites^c not one died. ⁷And Pharaoh sent to check, and it turned out^d not even one from the livestock of Israel had died, but Pharaoh’s heart was insensitive,^e and he did not release the people.

Plague Six: Painful Sores

⁸And Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron, “Take for yourselves full handfuls of soot from a smelting furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heavens before the eyes of Pharaoh. ⁹And it will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and it will become on humans and on animals a skin sore sprouting blisters in all the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰And they took the soot of the smelting furnace, and they stood before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkled it toward the heavens, and it became skin sores sprouting blisters on humans and on animals. ¹¹And the magicians were not able to stand before Moses because of the skin sores, for the skin sores were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians. ¹²And Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken to Moses.

Plague Seven: Hail

¹³And Yahweh said to Moses, “Start early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Look, he is going out to the water, and you must say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, “Release my people so that they may serve me. ¹⁴For at this time I am sending all of my plagues to you personally^f and among your servants and among your people so that you will know that there is no one like me in all the earth. ¹⁵For now I could have stretched out my hand, and I could have struck you and your people with the plague, and you would have perished from the earth. ¹⁶But for the sake of this I have caused you to stand—for the sake of showing you my strength and in order to proclaim my name in all the earth. ¹⁷Still you are behaving haughtily to my people by not releasing them. ¹⁸Look, about this time tomorrow, I am going to cause very severe^g hail to rain, the like of which has not been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. ¹⁹And now send word; bring into safety your livestock and all that belongs to you in the field. The hail will come down on every human and animal that is found in the field and not gathered into the house, and they will die.” ’ ”

²⁰Anyone from the servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of Yahweh caused his servants and livestock to flee to the houses. ²¹But whoever did not give regard to^h the word of Yahweh abandoned his servants and his livestock in the field.

²²And Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand to the heavens, and let there be hail in all the land of Egypt, on human and on animal and on all the vegetation of the field in the land of Egypt.” ²³And Moses stretched out his staff to the heavens, and Yahweh gave thunderⁱ and hail, and fire went to the earth, and Yahweh caused hail to rain on the land of Egypt. ²⁴And there was hail, and fire was flashing back and forth in the midst of the very severe hail, the like of which was not in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. ²⁵And the hail struck in all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, from human to animal, and the hail struck all the vegetation of the field and smashed every tree of the field. ²⁶Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites^j were, there was no hail.

²⁷And Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned this time. Yahweh is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones. ²⁸Pray to Yahweh. The thunder of God and hail are enough,^k and I will release you, and you will no longer have to stay.”^{l 29}And Moses said to him, “At my leaving the city, I will spread out my hands to Yahweh. The thunder will stop, and the hail will be no more, so that you will know that the earth belongs to Yahweh. ³⁰But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the presence of Yahweh God.”

³¹And the flax and the barley were struck, because the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. ³²But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, because they are late-ripening.

³³And Moses went from Pharaoh out of the city, and he spread his hands to Yahweh, and the thunder and the hail stopped, and rain did not pour on the earth. ³⁴And Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder stopped, and he again sinned^m and made his heart insensitive,ⁿ he and his servants. ³⁵And Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not release the Israelites,^o as Yahweh had said by the agency of Moses.^p

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…