Exodus 10

Modern

Literal

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened^a his heart and the hearts of his officials, that I may perform these miraculous signs of Mine among them,

¹And YHWH said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have made heavy his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may set these signs of Mine within him,

²and that you may tell your children and grandchildren how severely I dealt with the Egyptians when I performed miraculous signs among them, so that all of you may know that I am the LORD.”

²and so that you may recount in the ears of your son and the son of your son how I have dealt severely with Egypt, and My signs that I have set among them, and you shall know that I am YHWH.”

³So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

³And Moses came in—and Aaron—to Pharaoh, and they said to him, “Thus says YHWH God of the Hebrews, ‘Until when will you refuse to humble yourself before My face? Send out My people, that they may serve Me.

⁴But if you refuse to let My people go, I will bring locusts into your territory tomorrow.

⁴For if you refuse to send out My people, behold, tomorrow I am bringing the locust into your territory.

⁵They will cover the face of the land so that no one can see it. They will devour whatever is left after the hail and eat every tree that grows in your fields.

⁵And it shall cover the eye of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. And it shall eat the remnant of what is left, what remains for you from the hail, and it shall eat every tree that grows for you from the field.

⁶They will fill your houses and the houses of all your officials and every Egyptian—something neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since the day they came into this land.’”

Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh’s presence.

⁶And they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all Egypt—which neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, from the day that they were on the earth to this day.’” And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

⁷Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt lies in ruins?”

⁷And the servants of Pharaoh said to him, “Until when shall this one be a snare to us? Send out the men, that they may serve YHWH their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt has perished?”

⁸So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the LORD your God,” he said. “But who exactly will be going?”

⁸And Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve YHWH your God! Who and who are the ones going?”

⁹“We will go with our young and old,” Moses replied. “We will go with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”

⁹And Moses said, “With our young and with our old we will go, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds we will go, for it is a feast of YHWH for us.”

¹⁰Then Pharaoh told them, “May the LORD be with you if I ever let you go with your little ones. Clearly you are bent on evil.

¹⁰And he said to them, “Thus may YHWH be with you when I send out you, and your little ones. See, for evil is before your faces.

¹¹No, only the men may go and worship the LORD, since that is what you have been requesting.” And Moses and Aaron were driven from Pharaoh’s presence.

¹¹Not so! Go now, the men, and serve YHWH. For that is what you are seeking.” And they were driven out from the face of Pharaoh.

¹²Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may swarm over it and devour every plant in the land—everything that the hail has left behind.”

¹²And YHWH said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locust, and they shall go up upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant of the land—all that the hail has left.”

¹³So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and throughout that day and night the LORD sent an east wind across the land. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts.

¹³And Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and YHWH drove an east wind over the land all that day and all the night. And when it was the morning, the east wind brought the locust.

¹⁴The locusts swarmed across the land and settled over the entire territory of Egypt. Never before had there been so many locusts, and never again will there be.

¹⁴And the locust went up over all the land of Egypt and rested in all the territory of Egypt. It was very severe; before them there had never been such a locust as it, and after it there shall never be such.

¹⁵They covered the face of all the land until it was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left behind. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

¹⁵And it covered the eye of all the land, and the land was darkened. And it ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. And there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field in all the land of Egypt.

¹⁶Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you.

¹⁶And Pharaoh hurried to call for Moses and for Aaron and said, “I have sinned against YHWH your God and against you.

¹⁷Now please forgive my sin once more and appeal to the LORD your God, that He may remove this death from me.”

¹⁷And now forgive, please, my sin only this once, and pray to YHWH your God He may take away from me only this death.”

¹⁸So Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and appealed to the LORD.

¹⁸And he went out from Pharaoh, and he prayed to YHWH.

¹⁹And the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind that carried off the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea.^a Not a single locust remained anywhere in Egypt.

¹⁹And YHWH turned a very mighty sea wind, and it lifted up the locust and blew it into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the territory of Egypt.

²⁰But the LORD hardened^a Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.

²⁰And YHWH strengthened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not send out the sons of Israel.

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

²¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.”

²¹And YHWH said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the heavens, and there shall be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.”

²²So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days.

²²And Moses stretched out his hand toward the heavens, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.

²³No one could see anyone else, and for three days no one left his place. Yet all the Israelites had light in their dwellings.

²³They could not see, each man his brother, and no man rose from his place for three days. And for all the sons of Israel there was light in their dwellings.

²⁴Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the LORD. Even your little ones may go with you; only your flocks and herds must stay behind.”

²⁴And Pharaoh called to Moses and said, “Go, serve YHWH. Only your flocks and your herds shall stay behind; also your little ones shall go with you.”

²⁵But Moses replied, “You must also provide us with sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the LORD our God.

²⁵And Moses said, “You also must give into our hands sacrifices and burnt offerings, and we shall make them to YHWH our God.

²⁶Even our livestock must go with us; not a hoof will be left behind, for we will need some of them to worship the LORD our God, and we will not know how we are to worship the LORD until we arrive.”

²⁶And also our livestock shall go with us. Not a hoof shall remain, for from it we shall take to serve YHWH our God, and we do not know with what we shall serve YHWH until we arrive there.”

²⁷But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go.

²⁷And YHWH strengthened the heart of Pharaoh, and he was not willing to send them out.

²⁸“Depart from me!” Pharaoh said to Moses. “Make sure you never see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you will die.”

²⁸And Pharaoh said to him, “Go away from me! Take heed to yourself—do not again see my face! For in the day you see my face, you shall die!”

²⁹“As you say,” Moses replied, “I will never see your face again.”

²⁹And Moses said, “Thus you have spoken! I will not ever again see your face!”