Exodus 8:29

29 Moses said, "As soon as I leave here, I will pray to God that tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. But don't play games with us and change your mind about releasing us to sacrifice to God."

Exodus 8:29 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 8:29

And Moses said, behold, I go out from thee
Directly, immediately, to the place where he was wont to meet the Lord, and receive orders and instructions from him: and I will entreat the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from
Pharaoh;
for as he sent them, he only could remove them, and he could do the one as easily as he did the other: from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow;
that there might be a thorough and clear riddance of them from him and all his subjects, and out of every part of his kingdom; which should be done, and was done on the morrow, that is, on the thirtieth day of Adar, answering to part of our February, and part of our March, so that this must be about the middle of March: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more, in not letting the
people go to sacrifice to the Lord;
as in the plague of frogs, refusing to let them go when it was past; which Moses calls an illusion, a mocking of them, and dealing deceitfully, to which he here refers; see ( Exodus 8:15 ) .

Exodus 8:29 In-Context

27 Let us go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to our God, just as he instructed us."
28 Pharaoh said, "All right. I'll release you to go and sacrifice to your God in the wilderness. Only don't go too far. Now pray for me."
29 Moses said, "As soon as I leave here, I will pray to God that tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. But don't play games with us and change your mind about releasing us to sacrifice to God."
30 Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to God.
31 God did what Moses asked. He got rid of the flies from Pharaoh and his servants and his people. There wasn't a fly left.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.