may know that I am Yahweh.”
3 Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, “This is what
Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble
yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. 4 Or else,
if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into
your country, 5 and they shall cover the surface of the earth, so that one
won’t be able to see the earth. They shall eat the residue of that which has
escaped, which remains to you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which
grows for you out of the field. 6 Your houses shall be filled, and the
houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; as neither
your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they
were on the earth to this day.’” He turned, and went out from Pharaoh.
7 Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to
us? Let the men go, that they may serve Yahweh, their God. Don’t you yet know
that Egypt is destroyed?”
8 Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh,
and he said to them, “Go, serve Yahweh your God; but who are those who will
go?”
9 Moses said, “We will go with our young and with our old; with our sons
and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we
must hold a feast to Yahweh.”
10 He said to them, “Yahweh be with you if I will let you go with your
little ones! See, evil is clearly before your faces. 11 Not so! Go now
you who are men, and serve Yahweh; for that is what you desire!”
They were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
12 Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for
the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt, and eat every herb
of the land, even all that the hail has left.” 13 Moses stretched forth
his rod over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh brought an east wind on the land
all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind
brought the locusts. 14 The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt,
and rested in all the borders of Egypt. They were very grievous. Before them
there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.
15 For they covered the surface of the whole earth, so that the land was
darkened, and they ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees
which the hail had left. There remained nothing green, either tree or herb of
the field, through all the land of Egypt. 16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses
and Aaron in haste, and he said, “I have sinned against Yahweh your God, and
against you. 17 Now therefore please forgive my sin again, and pray to
Yahweh your God, that he may also take away from me this death.”
18 He went out from Pharaoh, and prayed to Yahweh. 19 Yahweh turned an
exceeding strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into
the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the borders of Egypt.
20 But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he didn’t let the children of
Israel go.
21 Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there
may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.”
22 Moses stretched forth his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick
darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 23 They didn’t see one
another, neither did anyone rise from his place for three days; but all the
children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
24 Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, “Go, serve Yahweh. Only let
your flocks and your herds stay behind. Let your little ones also go with
you.”
25 Moses said, “You must also give into our hand sacrifices and
burnt-offerings, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God. 26 Our cattle
also shall go with us. There shall not a hoof be left behind, for of it we
must take to serve Yahweh our God; and we don’t know with what we must serve
Yahweh, until we come there.”
27 But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he wouldn’t let them go.
28 Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Be careful to see my face no
more; for in the day you see my face you shall die!”
29 Moses said, “You have spoken well. I will see your face again no
more.”
World English Bible - Public Domain