Exodus 8:9–32:1

⁹Moses said to Pharaoh, “Be pleased to command me when I am to entreat, for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.” ¹⁰And he said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “Be it as you say, that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. ¹¹The frogs shall depart from you and your houses and your servants and your people; they shall be left only in the Nile.” ¹²So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried to the Lord concerning the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh. ¹³And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; the frogs died out of the houses and courtyards and out of the fields. ¹⁴And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. ¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and would not listen to them; as the Lord had said.

¹⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your rod and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.’ ” ¹⁷And they did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and struck the dust of the earth, and there came gnats on man and beast; all the dust of the earth became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt. ¹⁸The magicians tried by their secret arts to bring forth gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. ¹⁹And the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them; as the Lord had said.

²⁰Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and wait for Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. ²¹Else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people, and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. ²²But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there; that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. ²³Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. By tomorrow shall this sign be.” ’ ” ²⁴And the Lord did so; there came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants’ houses, and in all the land of Egypt the land was ruined by reason of the flies.

²⁵Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” ²⁶But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so; for we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God offerings abominable to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? ²⁷We must go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he will command us.” ²⁸So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Make entreaty for me.” ²⁹Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you and I will pray to the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow; only let not Pharaoh deal falsely again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” ³⁰So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. ³¹And the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained. ³²But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go.

Chapter 9

¹Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. ²For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, ³behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your cattle which are in the field, the horses, the asses, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. ⁴But the Lord will make a distinction between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt, so that nothing shall die of all that belongs to the people of Israel.” ’ ” ⁵And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” ⁶And on the morrow the Lord did this thing; all the cattle of the Egyptians died, but of the cattle of the people of Israel not one died. ⁷And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the cattle of the Israelites was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

⁸And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of ashes from the kiln, and let Moses throw them toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. ⁹And it shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰So they took ashes from the kiln, and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses threw them toward heaven, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. ¹¹And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. ¹²But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them; as the Lord had spoken to Moses.

¹³Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. ¹⁴For this time I will send all my plagues upon your heart, and upon your servants and your people, that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. ¹⁵For by now I could have put forth my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth; ¹⁶but for this purpose have I let you live, to show you my power, so that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. ¹⁷You are still exalting yourself against my people, and will not let them go. ¹⁸Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. ¹⁹Now therefore send, get your cattle and all that you have in the field into safe shelter; for the hail shall come down upon every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home, and they shall die.” ’ ” ²⁰Then he who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his slaves and his cattle flee into the houses; ²¹but he who did not regard the word of the Lord left his slaves and his cattle in the field.

²²And the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch forth your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man and beast and every plant of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.” ²³Then Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven; and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt; ²⁴there was hail, and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. ²⁵The hail struck down everything that was in the field throughout all the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and the hail struck down every plant of the field, and shattered every tree of the field. ²⁶Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, there was no hail.

²⁷Then Pharaoh sent, and called Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. ²⁸Entreat the Lord; for there has been enough of this thunder and hail; I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” ²⁹Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. ³⁰But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” ³¹(The flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. ³²But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they are late in coming up.) ³³So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and stretched out his hands to the Lord; and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. ³⁴But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. ³⁵So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go; as the Lord had spoken through Moses.

Chapter 10

¹Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, ²and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your son’s son how I have made sport of the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them; that you may know that I am the Lord.”

³So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. ⁴For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, ⁵and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land; and they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours which grows in the field, ⁶and they shall fill your houses, and the houses of all your servants and of all the Egyptians; as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’ ” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

⁷And Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God; do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?” ⁸So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh; and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God; but who are to go?” ⁹And Moses said, “We will go with our…