The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 And the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh: for I have made his heart and the hearts of his servants hard, so that I may let my signs be seen among them:
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Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go and see the king. I have made him and his officials stubborn, in order that I may perform these miracles among them
2 And so that you may be able to give to your son and to your son's son the story of my wonders in Egypt, and the signs which I have done among them; so that you may see that I am the Lord.
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and in order that you may be able to tell your children and grandchildren how I made fools of the Egyptians when I performed the miracles. All of you will know that I am the Lord."
3 Then Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you be lifted up in your pride before me? let my people go so that they may give me worship.
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So Moses and Aaron went to the king and said to him, "The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says, "How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
4 For if you will not let my people go, tomorrow I will send locusts into your land:
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If you keep on refusing, then I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow.
5 And the face of the earth will be covered with them, so that you will not be able to see the earth: and they will be the destruction of everything which up to now has not been damaged, everything which was not crushed by the ice-storm, and every tree still living in your fields.
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There will be so many that they will completely cover the ground. They will eat everything that the hail did not destroy, even the trees that are left.
6 And your houses will be full of them, and the houses of your servants and of all the Egyptians; it will be worse than anything your fathers have seen or their fathers, from the day when they were living on the earth till this day. And so he went out from Pharaoh.
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They will fill your palaces and the houses of all your officials and all your people. They will be worse than anything your ancestors ever saw.' " Then Moses turned and left.
7 And Pharaoh's servants said to him, How long is this man to be the cause of evil to us? let the men go so that they may give worship to the Lord their God: are you not awake to Egypt's danger?
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The king's officials said to him, "How long is this man going to give us trouble? Let the Israelite men go, so that they can worship the Lord their God. Don't you realize that Egypt is ruined?"
8 Then Moses and Aaron came in again before Pharaoh: and he said to them, Go and give worship to the Lord your God: but which of you are going?
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So Moses and Aaron were brought back to the king, and he said to them, "You may go and worship the Lord your God. But exactly who will go?"
9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds; for we are to keep a feast to the Lord.
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Moses answered, "We will all go, including our children and our old people. We will take our sons and daughters, our sheep and goats, and our cattle, because we must hold a festival to honor the Lord."
10 And he said to them, May the Lord be with you, if I will let you and your little ones go! take care, for your purpose clearly is evil.
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The king said, "I swear by the Lord that I will never let you take your women and children! It is clear that you are plotting to revolt.
11 Not so; but let your males go and give worship to the Lord, as your desire is. This he said, driving them out from before him.
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No! Only the men may go and worship the Lord if that is what you want." With that, Moses and Aaron were driven out of the king's presence.
12 And the Lord said to Moses, Let your hand be stretched out over the land of Egypt so that the locusts may come up on the land for the destruction of every green plant in the land, even everything untouched by the ice-storm.
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Then the Lord said to Moses, "Raise your hand over the land of Egypt to bring the locusts. They will come and eat everything that grows, everything that has survived the hail."
13 And Moses' rod was stretched out over the land of Egypt, and the Lord sent an east wind over the land all that day and all the night; and in the morning the locusts came up with the east wind.
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So Moses raised his stick, and the Lord caused a wind from the east to blow on the land all that day and all that night. By morning it had brought the locusts.
14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, resting on every part of the land, in very great numbers; such an army of locusts had never been seen before, and never will be again.
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They came in swarms and settled over the whole country. It was the largest swarm of locusts that had ever been seen or that ever would be seen again.
15 For all the face of the earth was covered with them, so that the land was black; and every green plant and all the fruit of the trees which was untouched by the ice-storm they took for food: not one green thing, no plant or tree, was to be seen in all the land of Egypt.
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They covered the ground until it was black with them; they ate everything that the hail had left, including all the fruit on the trees. Not a green thing was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.
16 Then Pharaoh quickly sent for Moses and Aaron, and said, I have done evil against the Lord your God and against you.
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Then the king hurriedly called Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you.
17 Let me now have forgiveness for my sin this time only, and make prayer to the Lord your God that he will take away from me this death only.
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Now forgive my sin this one time and pray to the Lord your God to take away this fatal punishment from me."
18 So he went out from Pharaoh and made prayer to the Lord.
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Moses left the king and prayed to the Lord.
19 And the Lord sent a very strong west wind, which took up the locusts, driving them into the Red Sea; not one locust was to be seen in any part of Egypt.
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And the Lord changed the east wind into a very strong west wind, which picked up the locusts and blew them into the Gulf of Suez. Not one locust was left in all of Egypt.
20 But the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he did not let the children of Israel go.
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But the Lord made the king stubborn, and he did not let the Israelites go.
21 And the Lord said to Moses, Let your hand be stretched out to heaven, and all the land of Egypt will be dark, so that men will be feeling their way about in the dark.
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The Lord then said to Moses, "Raise your hand toward the sky, and a darkness thick enough to be felt will cover the land of Egypt."
22 And when Moses' hand was stretched out, dark night came over all the land of Egypt for three days;
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Moses raised his hand toward the sky, and there was total darkness throughout Egypt for three days.
23 They were not able to see one another, and no one got up from his place for three days: but where the children of Israel were living it was light.
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The Egyptians could not see each other, and no one left his house during that time. But the Israelites had light where they were living.
24 Then Pharaoh sent for Moses, and said, Go and give worship to the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be kept here: your little ones may go with you.
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The king called Moses and said, "You may go and worship the Lord; even your women and children may go with you. But your sheep, goats, and cattle must stay here."
25 But Moses said, You will have to let us take burned offerings to put before the Lord our God.
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Moses answered, "Then you would have to provide us with animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings to offer to the Lord our God.
26 So our cattle will have to go with us, not one may be kept back; for they are needed for the worship of the Lord our God; we have no knowledge what offering we have to give till we come to the place.
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No, we will take our animals with us; not one will be left behind. We ourselves must select the animals with which to worship the Lord our God. And until we get there, we will not know what animals to sacrifice to him."
27 But the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he would not let them go.
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The Lord made the king stubborn, and he would not let them go.
28 And Pharaoh said to him, Go away from me, take care that you come not again before me; for the day when you see my face again will be your last.
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He said to Moses, "Get out of my sight! Don't let me ever see you again! On the day I do, you will die!"
29 And Moses said, You say truly; I will not see your face again.
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"You are right," Moses answered. "You will never see me again."
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.