Exodus 8

Modern

Literal

The Second Plague: Frogs

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

¹And YHWH said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him: Thus says YHWH, ‘Send out My people, that they may serve Me.

²But if you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs.

²And if you refuse to send them out, behold, I am striking all your territory with the frogs.

³The Nile will teem with frogs, and they will come into your palace and up to your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls.

³And the River shall teem with frogs, and they shall go up and come into your house, and into your bedroom, and onto your bed, and into the house of your servants, and on your people, and into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls.

⁴The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’”

⁴And on you and on your people and on all your servants the frogs shall come up.’”

⁵And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.’”

⁵And YHWH said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the streams, and over the ponds, and bring up the frogs on the land of Egypt.’”

⁶So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

⁶And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frog came up and covered the land of Egypt.

⁷But the magicians did the same thing by their magic arts, and they also brought frogs up onto the land of Egypt.

⁷And the magicians with their secret arts did so, and they brought up the frogs on the land of Egypt.

⁸Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people. Then I will let your people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD.”

⁸And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, “Pray to YHWH, that He may take away the frogs from me and from my people. and I will send out, the people that they may sacrifice to YHWH.”

⁹Moses said to Pharaoh, “You may have the honor over me. When shall I pray for you and your officials and your people that the frogs (except for those in the Nile) may be taken away from you and your houses?”

⁹And Moses said to Pharaoh, “Glorify yourself over me—for when shall I pray for you and for your servants, and for your people, to cut off the frogs from you and from your houses? Only in the River they shall remain.”

¹⁰“Tomorrow,” Pharaoh answered.

“May it be as you say,” Moses replied, “so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God.

¹⁰And he said, “Tomorrow.” And he said, “Let it be according to your word, so that you may know that there is none like YHWH our God.

¹¹The frogs will depart from you and your houses and your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.”

¹¹And the frogs shall depart from you, and from your houses, and from your servants, and from your people. Only in the River they shall remain.”

¹²After Moses and Aaron had left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the LORD for help with the frogs that He had brought against Pharaoh.

¹²And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to YHWH concerning the matter of the frogs which He had placed upon Pharaoh.

¹³And the LORD did as Moses requested, and the frogs in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields died.

¹³And YHWH did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died from the houses, from the courtyards, and from the fields.

¹⁴They were piled into countless heaps, and there was a terrible stench in the land.

¹⁴And they piled them up in heaps of heaps, and the land stank.

¹⁵When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, however, he hardened^a his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.

¹⁵And Pharaoh saw that there was relief, and he made heavy his heart, and he did not listen to them, as YHWH had spoken.

The Third Plague: Gnats

¹⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may turn into swarms of gnats throughout the land of Egypt.’”

¹⁶And YHWH said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the land, and it shall become gnats in all the land of Egypt.’”

¹⁷This they did, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, gnats came upon man and beast. All the dust of the earth turned into gnats throughout the land of Egypt.

¹⁷And they did so, and Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the land, and it became the gnat on the man and on the beast. All the dust of the land became gnats in all the land of Egypt.

¹⁸The magicians tried to produce gnats using their magic arts, but they could not. And the gnats remained on man and beast.

¹⁸And the magicians with their secret arts did so to bring forth the gnats, and they could not. And the gnat was on the man and on the beast.

¹⁹“This is the finger of God,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened,^a and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

¹⁹And the magicians said to Pharaoh, “It is the finger of God.” And the heart of Pharaoh was strengthened, and he did not listen to them, as YHWH had spoken.

The Fourth Plague: Flies

²⁰Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, and when Pharaoh goes out to the water, stand before him and tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

²⁰And YHWH said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before the face of Pharaoh—behold, he is going out to the water—and say to him, thus says YHWH: ‘Send out My people, that they may serve Me.

²¹But if you will not let My people go, I will send swarms of flies^a upon you and your officials and your people and your houses. The houses of the Egyptians and even the ground where they stand will be full of flies.

²¹For if you will not send out My people, behold, I am sending on you and on your servants and on your people and into your houses the swarm. And the houses of Egypt shall be full of the swarm, and also the ground on which they are.

²²But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where My people live; no swarms of flies will be found there. In this way you will know that I, the LORD, am in the land.

²²And I will set apart in that day the land of Goshen, in which My people are standing, that no swarm shall be there, in order that you may know that I, YHWH, am in the midst of the land.

²³I will make a distinction^a between My people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow.’”

²³And I will make a distinction between My people and between your people. Tomorrow this sign shall be.’”

²⁴And the LORD did so. Thick swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials. Throughout Egypt the land was ruined by swarms of flies.

²⁴And YHWH did so, and heavy swarms came into the house of Pharaoh and the house of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt; the land was ruined from before the swarm.

²⁵Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within this land.”

²⁵And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.”

²⁶But Moses replied, “It would not be right to do that, because the sacrifices we offer to the LORD our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. If we offer sacrifices that are detestable before the Egyptians, will they not stone us?

²⁶And Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for the abomination of Egypt we shall sacrifice to YHWH our God. Behold, shall we sacrifice the abomination of Egypt before their eyes, and will they not stone us?

²⁷We must make a three-day journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as He commands us.”

²⁷A journey of three days we will go into the wilderness, and we will sacrifice to YHWH our God, as He says to us.”

²⁸Pharaoh answered, “I will let you go and sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

²⁸And Pharaoh said, “I will send you out, and you shall sacrifice to YHWH your God in the wilderness. Only you shall not go very far away. Pray for me.”

²⁹“As soon as I leave you,” Moses said, “I will pray to the LORD, so that tomorrow the swarms of flies will depart from Pharaoh and his officials and his people. But Pharaoh must not act deceitfully again by refusing to let the people go and sacrifice to the LORD.”

²⁹And Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you, and I will pray to YHWH, and the swarm shall depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow. Only let Pharaoh not again deal deceitfully in not sending out the people to sacrifice to YHWH.”

³⁰Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD,

³⁰And Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to YHWH.

³¹and the LORD did as Moses requested. He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not one fly remained.

³¹And YHWH did according to the word of Moses, and He removed the swarm from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one remained.

³²But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time as well, and he would not let the people go.

³²And Pharaoh made heavy his heart also at this time, and he did not send out the people.