The Eighth Blow: Locusts

10:1 1 The Lord said2 to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display3 these signs of mine before him,4 10:2 and in order that in the hearing of your son and your grandson you may tell5 how I made fools6 of the Egyptians7 and about8 my signs that I displayed9 among them, so that you may know10 that I am the Lord.”

10:3 So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and told him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: ‘How long do you refuse11 to humble yourself before me?12 Release my people so that they may serve me! 10:4 But if you refuse to release my people, I am going to bring13 locusts14 into your territory15 tomorrow. 10:5 They will cover16 the surface17 of the earth, so that you18 will be unable to see the ground. They will eat the remainder of what escaped19—what is left over20 for you—from the hail, and they will eat every tree that grows for you from the field. 10:6 They will fill your houses, the houses of your servants, and all the houses of Egypt, such as21 neither22 your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since they have been23 in the land until this day!’ ” Then Moses24 turned and went out from Pharaoh.

10:7 Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long25 will this man be a menace26 to us? Release the people so that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not know27 that Egypt is destroyed?”

10:8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. Exactly who is going with you?”28 10:9 Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our sheep and our cattle we will go, because we are to hold29 a pilgrim feast for the Lord.”

10:10 He said to them, “The Lord will need to be with you30 if I release you and your dependents!31 Watch out!32 Trouble is right in front of you!33 10:11 No!34 Go, you men35 only, and serve the Lord, for that36 is what you want.”37 Then Moses and Aaron38 were driven39 out of Pharaoh’s presence.

10:12 The Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand over the land of Egypt for40 the locusts, that they may come up over the land of Egypt and eat everything that grows41 in the ground, everything that the hail has left.” 10:13 So Moses extended his staff over the land of Egypt, and then the Lord42 brought43 an east wind on the land all that day and all night.44 The morning came,45 and the east wind had brought up46 the locusts! 10:14 The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled down in all the territory47 of Egypt. It was very severe;48 there had been no locusts like them before, nor will there be such ever again.49 10:15 They covered50 the surface51 of all the ground, so that the ground became dark with them,52 and they ate all the vegetation of the ground and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green remained on the trees or on anything that grew in the fields throughout the whole land of Egypt.

10:16 53 Then Pharaoh quickly54 summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned55 against the Lord your God and against you! 10:17 So now, forgive my sin this time only, and pray to the Lord your God that he would only56 take this death57 away from me.” 10:18 Moses58 went out59 from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, 10:19 and the Lord turned a very strong west wind,60 and it picked up the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea.61 Not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt. 10:20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not release the Israelites.