Exodus 8

8^aThen the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship^v me. ²If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs^w on your whole country. ³The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people,^x and into your ovens and kneading troughs.^{y 4}The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’ ”

⁵Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff^z over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs^a come up on the land of Egypt.’ ”

⁶So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs^b came up and covered the land. ⁷But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts;^c they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

⁸Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray^d to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices^e to the Lord.”

⁹Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time^f for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile.”

¹⁰“Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said.

Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Lord our God.^{g 11}The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.”

¹²After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. ¹³And the Lord did what Moses asked.^h The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields. ¹⁴They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them. ¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief,ⁱ he hardened his heart^j and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

The Plague of Gnats

¹⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff^k and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.” ¹⁷They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats^l came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. ¹⁸But when the magicians^m tried to produce gnats by their secret arts,ⁿ they could not.

Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, ¹⁹the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger^o of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart^p was hard and he would not listen,^q just as the Lord had said.

The Plague of Flies

²⁰Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning^r and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship^s me. ²¹If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.

²²“ ‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen,^t where my people live;^u no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know^v that I, the Lord, am in this land. ²³I will make a distinction^b between my people and your people.^w This sign will occur tomorrow.’ ”

²⁴And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.^x

²⁵Then Pharaoh summoned^y Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”

²⁶But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians.^z And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? ²⁷We must take a three-day journey^a into the wilderness to offer sacrifices^b to the Lord our God, as he commands us.”

²⁸Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray^c for me.”

²⁹Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only let Pharaoh be sure that he does not act deceitfully^d again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

³⁰Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord,^{e 31}and the Lord did what Moses asked. The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained. ³²But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart^f and would not let the people go.