Exodus 10–12

¹And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Go in unto Pharaoh, for I have declared hard his heart, and the heart of his servants, so that I set these My signs in their midst, ²and so that thou recountest in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son, that which I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have set among them, and ye have known that I am Jehovah.’ ³And Moses cometh in—Aaron also—unto Pharaoh, and they say unto him, ‘Thus said Jehovah, God of the Hebrews, Until when hast thou refused to be humbled at My presence? send My people away, and they serve Me, ⁴for if thou art refusing to send My people away, lo, I am bringing in to-morrow the locust into thy border, ⁵and it hath covered the eye of the land, and none is able to see the land, and it hath eaten the remnant of that which is escaped, which is left to you from the hail, and it hath eaten every tree which is springing for you out of the field; ⁶and they have filled thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, which neither thy fathers nor thy father’s fathers have seen, since the day of their being on the ground unto this day,’—and he turneth and goeth out from Pharaoh. ⁷And the servants of Pharaoh say unto him, ‘Until when doth this one become a snare to us? send the men away, and they serve Jehovah their God; knowest thou not yet that Egypt hath perished?’ ⁸And Moses is brought back—Aaron also—unto Pharaoh, and he saith unto them, ‘Go, serve Jehovah your God;—who and who are those going?’ ⁹And Moses saith, ‘With our young ones, and with our aged ones, we go, with our sons, and with our daughters, with our flock, and our herd, we go, for we have a festival to Jehovah.’ ¹⁰And he saith unto them, ‘Be it so, Jehovah be with you when I send you and your infants away; see—for evil is before your faces; ¹¹not so! go now, ye who are men, and serve Jehovah, for that ye are seeking;’ and one casteth them out from the presence of Pharaoh.

¹²And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Stretch out thy hand against the land of Egypt for the locust, and it goeth up against the land of Egypt, and doth eat every herb of the land—all that the hail hath left.’ ¹³And Moses stretcheth out his rod against the land of Egypt, and Jehovah hath led an east wind over the land all that day, and all the night; the morning hath been, and the east wind hath lifted up the locust. ¹⁴And the locust goeth up against all the land of Egypt, and resteth in all the border of Egypt—very grievous: before it there hath not been such a locust as it, and after it there is none such; ¹⁵and it covereth the eye of all the land, and the land is darkened; and it eateth every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail hath left, and there hath not been left any green thing in the trees, or in the herb of the field, in all the land of Egypt.’ ¹⁶And Pharaoh hasteth to call for Moses and for Aaron, and saith, ‘I have sinned against Jehovah your God, and against you, ¹⁷and now, bear with, I pray you, my sin, only this time, and make ye supplication to Jehovah your God, that He turn aside from off me only this death.’ ¹⁸And he goeth out from Pharaoh, and maketh supplication unto Jehovah, ¹⁹and Jehovah turneth a very strong sea wind, and it lifteth up the locust, and bloweth it into the Red Sea—there hath not been left one locust in all the border of Egypt; ²⁰and Jehovah strengtheneth the heart of Pharaoh, and he hath not sent the sons of Israel away.

²¹And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Stretch out thy hand towards the heavens, and there is darkness over the land of Egypt, and the darkness is felt.’ ²²And Moses stretcheth out his hand towards the heavens, and there is darkness—thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days; ²³they have not seen one another, and none hath risen from his place three days; and to all the sons of Israel there hath been light in their dwellings.’ ²⁴And Pharaoh calleth unto Moses and saith, ‘Go ye, serve Jehovah, only your flock and your herd are stayed, your infants also go with you;’ ²⁵and Moses saith, ‘Thou also dost give in our hand sacrifices and burnt-offerings, and we have prepared for Jehovah our God; ²⁶and also our cattle doth go with us, there is not left a hoof, for from it we do take to serve Jehovah our God; and we—we know not how we do serve Jehovah till our going thither.’ ²⁷And Jehovah strengtheneth the heart of Pharaoh, and he hath not been willing to send them away; ²⁸and Pharaoh saith to him, ‘Go from me, take heed to thyself, add not to see my face, for in the day thou seest my face thou diest;’ ²⁹and Moses saith, ‘Rightly hast thou spoken, I add not any more to see thy face.’

Chapter 11

¹And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘One plague more I do bring in on Pharaoh, and on Egypt, afterwards he doth send you away from this; when he is sending you away, he surely casteth you out altogether from this place; ²speak, I pray thee, in the ears of the people, and they ask—each man from his neighbour, and each woman from her neighbour, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold.’ ³And Jehovah giveth the grace of the people in the eyes of the Egyptians; also the man Moses is very great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of the servants of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of the people.

⁴And Moses saith, ‘Thus said Jehovah, About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, ⁵and every first-born in the land of Egypt hath died, from the first-born of Pharaoh who is sitting on his throne, unto the first-born of the maid-servant who is behind the millstones, and all the first-born of beasts; ⁶and there hath been a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there hath not been, and such as there is not again.

⁷‘And against all the sons of Israel a dog sharpeneth not its tongue, from man even unto beast, so that ye know that Jehovah doth make a separation between the Egyptians and Israel; ⁸and all these thy servants have come down unto me, and bowed themselves to me, saying, Go out, thou and all the people who are at thy feet; and afterwards I do go out;’—and he goeth out from Pharaoh in the heat of anger. ⁹And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Pharaoh doth not hearken unto you, so as to multiply My wonders in the land of Egypt;’ ¹⁰and Moses and Aaron have done all these wonders before Pharaoh, and Jehovah strengtheneth Pharaoh’s heart, and he hath not sent the sons of Israel out of his land.

Chapter 12

¹And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses and unto Aaron, in the land of Egypt, saying, ²‘This month is to you the chief of months—it is the first to you of the months of the year; ³speak ye unto all the company of Israel, saying, In the tenth of this month—they take to them each man a lamb for the house of the fathers, a lamb for a house.

⁴‘(And if the household be too few for a lamb, then hath he taken, he and his neighbour who is near unto his house, for the number of persons, each according to his eating ye do count for the lamb,) ⁵a lamb, a perfect one, a male, a son of a year, let be to you; from the sheep or from the goats ye do take it.

⁶‘And it hath become a charge to you, until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole assembly of the company of Israel have slaughtered it between the evenings; ⁷and they have taken of the blood, and have put on the two side-posts, and on the lintel over the houses in which they eat it.

⁸‘And they have eaten the flesh in this night, roast with fire; with unleavened things and bitters they do eat it; ⁹ye do not eat of it raw, or boiled at all in water, but roast with fire, its head with its legs, and with its inwards; ¹⁰and ye do not leave of it till morning, and that which is remaining of it till morning with fire ye do burn.

¹¹‘And thus ye do eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye have eaten it in haste; it is Jehovah’s passover, ¹²and I have passed over through the land of Egypt during this night, and have smitten every first-born in the land of Egypt, from man even unto beast, and on all the gods of Egypt I do judgments; I am Jehovah.

¹³‘And the blood hath become a sign for you on the houses where ye are, and I have seen the blood, and have passed over you, and a plague is not on you for destruction in My smiting in the land of Egypt.

¹⁴‘And this day hath become to you a memorial, and ye have kept it a feast to Jehovah to your generations;—a statute age-during; ye keep it a feast. ¹⁵Seven days ye eat unleavened things; only—in the first day ye cause leaven to cease out of your houses; for any one eating anything fermented from the first day till the seventh day, even that person hath been cut off from Israel.

¹⁶‘And in the first day is a holy convocation, and in the seventh day ye have a holy convocation; any work is not done in them, only that which is eaten by any person—it alone is done by you, ¹⁷and ye have observed the unleavened things, for in this self-same day I have brought out your hosts from the land of Egypt, and ye have observed this day to your generations—a statute age-during.

¹⁸‘In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, ye do eat unleavened things until the one and twentieth day of the month, at evening; ¹⁹seven days leaven is not found in your houses, for any one eating anything fermented—that person hath been cut off from the company of Israel, among the sojourners or among the natives of the land; ²⁰anything fermented ye do not eat, in all your dwellings ye do eat unleavened things.’

²¹And Moses calleth for all the elders of Israel, and saith unto them, ‘Draw out and take for yourselves from the flock, for your families, and slaughter the passover-sacrifice; ²²and ye have taken a bunch of hyssop, and have dipped it in the blood which is in the basin, and have struck it on the lintel, and on the two side-posts, from the blood which is in the basin, and ye, ye go not out each from the opening of his house till morning.

²³‘And Jehovah hath passed on to smite the Egyptians, and hath seen the blood on the lintel, and on the two…