16
The Lord sent famine to their country
1 and took away all their food.
17
But he sent a man ahead of them,
2 Joseph, who had been sold as a slave.
18
His feet were kept in chains,
3 and an iron collar was around his neck,
19
until what he had predicted came true. The word of the Lord proved him right.
20
Then the king of Egypt had him released;
4 the ruler of nations set him free.
21
He put him in charge of his government
5 and made him ruler over all the land,
22
with power over the king's officials and authority to instruct his advisers.
23
Then Jacob went to Egypt
6 and settled in that country.
24
The Lord gave many children to his people
7 and made them stronger than their enemies.
25
He made the Egyptians hate his people and treat his servants with deceit.
26
Then he sent his servant Moses,
8 and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27
They did God's mighty acts and performed miracles in Egypt.
28
God sent darkness on the country,
9 but the Egyptians did not obey his command.
29
He turned their rivers into blood
10 and killed all their fish.
30
Their country was overrun with frogs;
11 even the palace was filled with them.
31
God commanded, and flies and gnats
12 swarmed throughout the whole country.
32
He sent hail and lightning on their land
13 instead of rain;
33
he destroyed their grapevines and fig trees and broke down all the trees.
34
He commanded, and the locusts came,
14 countless millions of them;
35
they ate all the plants in the land; they ate all the crops.
36
He killed the first-born sons
15 of all the families of Egypt.