Exodus 10:1-29
10 Then Jehovah said to Moses: “Go in to Pharʹaoh, because I—I have let his heart and the hearts of his servants become unresponsive,+ in order that I may set these signs of mine right before him,*+
2 and in order that you may declare in the ears of your son and your son’s son* how severely I have dealt with Egypt and my signs that I have established among them;+ and YOU will certainly know that I am Jehovah.”+
3 So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharʹaoh and said to him: “This is what Jehovah the God of the Hebrews has said, ‘How long must you refuse to submit yourself to me?+ Send my people away that they may serve me.
4 For if you continue refusing to send my people away, here I am bringing locusts within your boundaries tomorrow.+
5 And they will actually cover the visible surface* of the earth and it will not be possible to see the earth; and they will simply eat up the rest of what has escaped, what has been left to YOU people by the hail, and they will certainly eat every sprouting tree of YOURS out of the field.+
6 And your houses and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all Egypt will be filled to an extent that your fathers and your fathers’ fathers* have not seen it from the day of their existing upon the ground until this day.’”+ With that he turned and went out from Pharʹaoh.+
7 After that Pharʹaoh’s servants said to him: “How long will this man prove to be as a snare to us?+ Send the men away that they may serve Jehovah their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt has perished?”+
8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharʹaoh, and he said to them: “Go, serve Jehovah YOUR God.+ Who in particular* are the ones going?”
9 Then Moses said: “With our young people and our old people we shall go. With our sons and our daughters,+ with our sheep and our cattle we shall go,+ for we have a festival to Jehovah.”+
10 In turn he said to them: “Let it prove to be so, that Jehovah is with YOU when I shall send YOU and YOUR little ones away!+ See, on the contrary, something evil is YOUR aim.*+
11 Not so! Go, please, YOU who are able-bodied men, and serve Jehovah, because that is what YOU are seeking to secure.” With that they were driven out from before Pharʹaoh.+
12 Jehovah now said to Moses: “Stretch+ your hand out over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up over the land of Egypt and eat up all the vegetation of the land, everything that the hail has let remain.”+
13 At once Moses stretched his rod out over the land of Egypt, and Jehovah caused an east wind*+ to blow upon the land all that day and all night. The morning came and the east wind carried the locusts.
14 And the locusts began to come up over all the land of Egypt and to settle down upon all the territory of Egypt.+ They were very burdensome.+ Before them there had never turned up in this way locusts like them, and there will never turn up any in this way after them.
15 And they went covering the visible surface of the entire land,+ and the land grew dark;+ and they went on eating up all the vegetation of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left;+ and there was left nothing green on the trees or on the vegetation of the field in all the land of Egypt.+
16 So Pharʹaoh hurriedly called Moses and Aaron and said: “I have sinned against Jehovah YOUR God and against YOU.+
17 And now pardon,+ please, my sin just this once and ENTREAT+ Jehovah YOUR God that he may turn away just this deadly plague* from upon me.”
18 So he went out from Pharʹaoh and made entreaty to Jehovah.+
19 Then Jehovah made a shift to a very stiff west wind, and it carried the locusts away and drove them into the Red Sea.* Not a single locust was let remain in all the territory of Egypt.
20 However, Jehovah let Pharʹaoh’s heart become obstinate,+ and he did not send the sons of Israel away.
21 Jehovah then said to Moses: “Stretch your hand out toward the heavens,+ that darkness may occur over the land of Egypt and the darkness may be felt.”
22 Moses immediately stretched his hand out toward the heavens, and a gloomy darkness began to occur in all the land of Egypt for three days.+
23 They did not see one another, and none of them got up from his own place three days; but for all the sons of Israel there proved to be light in their dwellings.+
24 After that Pharʹaoh called Moses and said: “Go, SERVE Jehovah.+ Only YOUR sheep and YOUR cattle will be detained. YOUR little ones also may go with YOU.”+
25 But Moses said: “You yourself will also give into our hands sacrifices and burnt offerings, as we must render them to Jehovah our God.+
26 And our livestock will also go with us.+ Not a hoof will be allowed to remain, because it is from them that we shall take some to worship* Jehovah our God,+ and we ourselves do not know what we shall render in worship to Jehovah until our arriving there.”+
27 At this Jehovah let Pharʹaoh’s heart become obstinate, and he did not consent to send them away.+
28 So Pharʹaoh said to him: “Get out from me!+ Watch yourself! Do not try to see my face again, because on the day of your seeing my face you will die.”+
29 To this Moses said: “That is the way you have spoken. I shall not try to see your face anymore.”+
Footnotes
^ “These signs (of mine) among them,” TJSy; LXX, “these signs upon them.”
^ Or, “and your grandson.”
^ Lit., “the eye.”
^ Or, “your grandfathers.”
^ Lit., “Who and who?”
^ Lit., “something evil is in front of your faces.”
^ Lit., “this death.”
^ Lit., “the weedy sea; sea of reeds.”
