Exodus 10–12

The Plague of Locusts

10Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart^s and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs^t of mine among them ²that you may tell your children^u and grandchildren how I dealt harshly^v with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”^w

³So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble^x yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ⁴If you refuse^y to let them go, I will bring locusts^z into your country tomorrow. ⁵They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left^a after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields.^{b 6}They will fill your houses^c and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.’ ”^d Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.

⁷Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare^e to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”^f

⁸Then Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship^g the Lord your God,” he said. “But tell me who will be going.”

⁹Moses answered, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festival^h to the Lord.”

¹⁰Pharaoh said, “The Lord be with you—if I let you go, along with your women and children! Clearly you are bent on evil.^{a 11}No! Have only the men go and worship the Lord, since that’s what you have been asking for.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence.

¹²And the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your handⁱ over Egypt so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.”

¹³So Moses stretched out his staff^j over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts;^{k 14}they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts,^l nor will there ever be again. ¹⁵They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured^m all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

¹⁶Pharaoh quickly summonedⁿ Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned^o against the Lord your God and against you. ¹⁷Now forgive^p my sin once more and pray^q to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away from me.”

¹⁸Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord.^{r 19}And the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea.^b Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt. ²⁰But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart,^s and he would not let the Israelites go.

The Plague of Darkness

²¹Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness^t spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” ²²So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness^u covered all Egypt for three days. ²³No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.^v

²⁴Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go,^w worship the Lord. Even your women and children^x may go with you; only leave your flocks and herds behind.”^y

²⁵But Moses said, “You must allow us to have sacrifices and burnt offerings^z to present to the Lord our God. ²⁶Our livestock too must go with us; not a hoof is to be left behind. We have to use some of them in worshiping the Lord our God, and until we get there we will not know what we are to use to worship the Lord.”

²⁷But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart,^a and he was not willing to let them go. ²⁸Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.”

²⁹“Just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never appear^b before you again.”

The Plague on the Firstborn

11Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go^c from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.^{d 2}Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.”^{e 3}(The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed^f toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded^g in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.)

⁴So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight^h I will go throughout Egypt.^{i 5}Every firstborn^j son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill,^k and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. ⁶There will be loud wailing^l throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. ⁷But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction^m between Egypt and Israel. ⁸All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go,ⁿ you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.”^o Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

⁹The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen^p to you—so that my wonders^q may be multiplied in Egypt.” ¹⁰Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart,^r and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread

12:14–20pp—Lev 23:4–8; Nu 28:16–25; Dt 16:1–8

12The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ²“This month is to be for you the first month,^s the first month of your year. ³Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb^at for his family, one for each household.^{u 4}If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. ⁵The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect,^v and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. ⁶Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month,^w when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.^{x 7}Then they are to take some of the blood^y and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. ⁸That same night^z they are to eat the meat roasted^a over the fire, along with bitter herbs,^b and bread made without yeast.^{c 9}Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs.^{d 10}Do not leave any of it till morning;^e if some is left till morning, you must burn it. ¹¹This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste;^f it is the Lord’s Passover.^g

¹²“On that same night I will pass through^h Egypt and strike downⁱ every firstborn^j of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods^k of Egypt. I am the Lord.^{l 13}The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over^m you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.ⁿ

¹⁴“This is a day you are to commemorate;^o for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.^{p 15}For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast.^q On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off^r from Israel. ¹⁶On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work^s at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.

¹⁷“Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread,^t because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt.^u Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.^{v 18}In the first month^w you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. ¹⁹For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner^x or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off^y from the community of Israel. ²⁰Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live,^z you must eat unleavened bread.”^a

²¹Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover^b lamb. ²²Take a bunch of hyssop,^c dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood^d on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. ²³When the Lord goes through the land to strike^e down the Egyptians, he will see the blood^f on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over^g that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer^h to enter your houses and strike you down.

²⁴“Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinanceⁱ for you and your descendants. ²⁵When you enter the land^j that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. ²⁶And when your children^k ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ ²⁷then tell them, ‘It is the Passover^l sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’ ”^m Then the people bowed down and worshiped.^{n 28}The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded^o Moses and Aaron.

²⁹At midnight^p the Lord^q…