Exodus 9; Exodus 10; Exodus 11

1 Then the Lord told Moses, "Go to the king of Egypt and tell him, 'This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go to worship me.

2 If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them,

3 the Lord will punish you. He will send a terrible disease on your farm animals that are in the fields. He will cause your horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, goats, and sheep to become sick.

4 But the Lord will treat Israel's animals differently from the animals of Egypt. None of the animals that belong to the Israelites will die.

5 The Lord has set tomorrow as the time he will do this in the land.'"

6 The next day the Lord did as he promised. All the farm animals in Egypt died, but none of the animals belonging to Israelites died.

7 The king sent people to see what had happened to the animals of Israel, and they found that not one of them had died. But the king was still stubborn and did not let the people go.

8 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Fill your hands with ashes from a furnace. Moses, throw the ashes into the air in front of the king of Egypt.

9 The ashes will spread like dust through all the land of Egypt. They will cause boils to break out and become sores on the skin of people and animals everywhere in the land."

10 So Moses and Aaron took ashes from a furnace and went and stood before the king. Moses threw ashes into the air, which caused boils to break out and become sores on people and animals.

11 The magicians could not stand before Moses, because all the Egyptians had boils, even the magicians.

12 But the Lord made the king stubborn, so he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

13 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and go to the king of Egypt. Tell him, 'This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go to worship me.

14 If you don't, this time I will punish you, your officers, and your people, with all my power. Then you will know there is no one in the whole land like me.

15 By now I could have used my power and caused a terrible disease that would have destroyed you and your people from the earth.

16 But I have let you live for this reason: to show you my power so that my name will be talked about in all the earth.

17 You are still against my people and do not want to let them go.

18 So at this time tomorrow, I will send a terrible hailstorm, the worst in Egypt since it became a nation.

19 Now send for your animals and whatever you have in the fields, and bring them into a safe place. The hail will fall on every person or animal that is still in the fields. If they have not been brought in, they will die.'"

20 Some of the king's officers respected the word of the Lord and hurried to bring their slaves and animals inside.

21 But others ignored the Lord's message and left their slaves and animals in the fields.

22 The Lord told Moses, "Raise your hand toward the sky. Then the hail will start falling in all the land of Egypt. It will fall on people, animals, and on everything that grows in the fields of Egypt."

23 When Moses raised his walking stick toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the earth. So he caused hail to fall upon the land of Egypt.

24 There was hail, and lightning flashed as it hailed -- the worst hailstorm in Egypt since it had become a nation.

25 The hail destroyed all the people and animals that were in the fields in all the land of Egypt. It also destroyed everything that grew in the fields and broke all the trees in the fields.

26 The only place it did not hail was in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived.

27 The king sent for Moses and Aaron and told them, "This time I have sinned. The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.

28 Pray to the Lord. We have had enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go; you do not have to stay here any longer."

29 Moses told the king, "When I leave the city, I will raise my hands to the Lord in prayer, and the thunder and hail will stop. Then you will know that the earth belongs to the Lord.

30 But I know that you and your officers do not yet fear the Lord God."

31 The flax was in bloom, and the barley had ripened, so these crops were destroyed.

32 But both wheat crops ripen later, so they were not destroyed.

33 Moses left the king and went outside the city. He raised his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and hail stopped. The rain also stopped falling to the ground.

34 When the king saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had stopped, he sinned again, and he and his officers became stubborn.

35 So the king became stubborn and refused to let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.

1 The Lord said to Moses, "Go to the king of Egypt. I have made him and his officers stubborn so I could show them my powerful miracles.

2 I also did this so you could tell your children and your grandchildren how I was hard on the Egyptians. Tell them about the miracles I did among them so that all of you will know that I am the Lord."

3 So Moses and Aaron went to the king and told him, "This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to be sorry for what you have done? Let my people go to worship me.

4 If you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country.

5 They will cover the land so that no one will be able to see the ground. They will eat anything that was left from the hailstorm and the leaves from every tree growing in the field.

6 They will fill your palaces and all your officers' houses, as well as the houses of all the Egyptians. There will be more locusts than your fathers or ancestors have ever seen -- more than there have been since people began living in Egypt.'" Then Moses turned and walked away from the king.

7 The king's officers asked him, "How long will this man make trouble for us? Let the Israelites go to worship the Lord their God. Don't you know that Egypt is ruined?"

8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to the king. He said to them, "Go and worship the Lord your God. But tell me, just who is going?"

9 Moses answered, "We will go with our young and old people, our sons and daughters, and our flocks and herds, because we are going to have a feast to honor the Lord."

10 The king said to them, "The Lord will really have to be with you if ever I let you and all of your children leave Egypt. See, you are planning something evil!

11 No! Only the men may go and worship the Lord, which is what you have been asking for." Then the king forced Moses and Aaron out of his palace.

12 The Lord told Moses, "Raise your hand over the land of Egypt, and the locusts will come. They will spread all over the land of Egypt and will eat all the plants the hail did not destroy."

13 So Moses raised his walking stick over the land of Egypt, and the Lord caused a strong wind to blow from the east. It blew across the land all that day and night, and when morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts.

14 Swarms of locusts covered all the land of Egypt and settled everywhere. There were more locusts than ever before or after,

15 and they covered the whole land so that it was black. They ate everything that was left after the hail -- every plant in the field and all the fruit on the trees. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant anywhere in Egypt.

16 The king quickly called for Moses and Aaron. He said, "I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you.

17 Now forgive my sin this time. Pray to the Lord your God, and ask him to stop this punishment that kills."

18 Moses left the king and prayed to the Lord.

19 So the Lord changed the wind. He made a very strong wind blow from the west, and it blew the locusts away into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left anywhere in Egypt.

20 But the Lord caused the king to be stubborn again, and he did not let the Israelites go.

21 Then the Lord told Moses, "Raise your hand toward the sky, and darkness will cover the land of Egypt. It will be so dark you will be able to feel it."

22 Moses raised his hand toward the sky, and total darkness was everywhere in Egypt for three days.

23 No one could see anyone else, and no one could go anywhere for three days. But the Israelites had light where they lived.

24 Again the king of Egypt called for Moses. He said, "All of you may go and worship the Lord. You may take your women and children with you, but you must leave your flocks and herds here."

25 Moses said, "You must let us have animals to use as sacrifices and burnt offerings, because we have to offer them to the Lord our God.

26 So we must take our animals with us; not a hoof will be left behind. We have to use some of the animals to worship the Lord our God. We won't know exactly what we will need to worship the Lord until we get there."

27 But the Lord made the king stubborn again, so he refused to let them go.

28 Then he told Moses, "Get out of here, and don't come again! The next time you see me, you will die."

29 Then Moses told the king, "I'll do what you say. I will not come to see you again."

1 Now the Lord had told Moses, "I have one more way to punish the king and the people of Egypt. After this, the king will send all of you away from Egypt. When he does, he will force you to leave completely.

2 Tell the men and women of Israel to ask their neighbors for things made of silver and gold."

3 The Lord had caused the Egyptians to respect the Israelites, and both the king's officers and the Egyptian people considered Moses to be a great man.

4 So Moses said to the king, "This is what the Lord says: 'About midnight tonight I will go through all Egypt.

5 Every firstborn son in the land of Egypt will die -- from the firstborn son of the king, who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl grinding grain. Also the firstborn farm animals will die.

6 There will be loud outcries everywhere in Egypt, worse than any time before or after this.

7 But not even a dog will bark at the Israelites or their animals.' Then you will know that the Lord treats Israel differently from Egypt.

8 All your officers will come to me. They will bow facedown to the ground before me and say, 'Leave and take all your people with you.' After that, I will leave." Then Moses very angrily left the king.

9 The Lord had told Moses, "The king will not listen to you and Aaron so that I may do many miracles in the land of Egypt."

10 Moses and Aaron did all these great miracles in front of the king. But the Lord made him stubborn, and the king would not let the Israelites leave his country.