Exodus 9-11

New Life Version

Animals Owned by Egyptians Die

9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says this: “Let My people go, so they may worship Me. ² For if you will not let them go, and still hold them, ³ the hand of the Lord will come with a very bad disease on your animals in the field: on the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the cattle and the flocks. ⁴ But the Lord will divide the animals of Israel from the animals of Egypt. So nothing will die of all that belongs to the people of Israel.”’” ⁵ The Lord made a time for this, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land.” ⁶ So the Lord did this on the next day. All the animals of Egypt died. But not one of the animals died that belonged to the people of Israel. ⁷ Pharaoh learned that not one of the animals of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hard. He did not let the people go.

Bad Sores Come on Egyptians and Their Animals

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Fill your hands with ashes from a stove. Let Moses throw them toward the sky in front of Pharaoh. ⁹ And it will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt and will become bad sores on man and animal through all the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ So they took ashes from a stove. Moses stood in front of Pharaoh and threw the ashes toward the sky. And it became sores on man and animal. ¹¹ The wonder-workers could not stand in front of Moses because of the sores. For the sores were on the wonder-workers and on all the Egyptians. ¹² But the Lord made the heart of Pharaoh hard. He did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said to Moses.

Large Hail and Fire

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and stand in front of Pharaoh and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says this: “Let My people go, so they may worship Me. ¹⁴ For this time I will send all My troubles on you and your servants and your people. So you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. ¹⁵ For by now I could have put out My hand and hit you and your people with much trouble and great suffering. You would then have been destroyed from the earth. ¹⁶ But I have let you live so you could see My power and so My name may be honored through all the earth. ¹⁷ But you still use your power against My people by not letting them go. ¹⁸ About this time tomorrow I will send a very heavy hail such as has never been seen in Egypt from the day it began until now. ¹⁹ Have your cattle and whatever you have in the field brought to a safe place. For the hail will come down upon every man and animal that is in the field and is not brought home. And they will die.”’” ²⁰ Any of the people of Egypt who feared the word of the Lord made his servants and animals run to the houses. ²¹ But he who did not listen to the word of the Lord left his servants and animals in the field.

²² The Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand toward the sky and hail will fall on all the land of Egypt. Hail will fall on man and animal and every plant of the field through all the land of Egypt.” ²³ Moses put out his special stick toward the sky. Then the Lord sent thunder and hail. And lightning struck the ground. The Lord poured hail on the land of Egypt. ²⁴ So there was hail and lightning striking through the hail without stopping. It was very bad, worse than had ever been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. ²⁵ The hail hit all that was in the field through all the land of Egypt, both man and animal. The hail hit every plant of the field and broke down every tree of the field. ²⁶ Only in the land of Goshen where the people of Israel were, there was no hail.

²⁷ Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. He said to them, “I have sinned this time. The Lord is right. I and my people are guilty. ²⁸ Pray to the Lord. For there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. And I will let you go. You will stay here no longer.” ²⁹ Moses said to him, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will stop. There will be no more hail. Then you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. ³⁰ But I know that you and your servants do not yet fear the Lord God.” ³¹ The flax and the barley were destroyed. For these plants had just begun to grow. ³² But the other grains were not destroyed, because they grow later.

³³ So Moses left the city and Pharaoh. He spread out his hands to the Lord. And the thunder and the hail stopped. The rain no longer poured on the earth. ³⁴ But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again. He and his servants made their hearts hard. ³⁵ Pharaoh’s heart was not changed. He did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had said by Moses.

Locusts Come

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. For I have made his heart and the heart of his servants hard, so that I may do My powerful works among them. ² You may tell your son and your grandson how I made it very hard for the Egyptians and how I did My powerful works among them. So you may know that I am the Lord.” ³ Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They said to him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says this: ‘How long will you hold your pride before Me? Let My people go, so they may worship Me. ⁴ If you will not let My people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country. ⁵ They will cover the land, so no one will be able to see the ground. They will eat what is left for you after the hail. They will eat every tree of yours that grows in the field. ⁶ They will fill your houses, and the houses of your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians. Your fathers and your grandfathers have never seen such a thing from the day they were born until this day.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.

⁷ Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man bring trouble to us? Let the men go, so they may worship the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is destroyed?” ⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh. He said to them, “Go and worship the Lord your God. But who will be going?” ⁹ Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old, our sons and our daughters, and our flocks and cattle. For we must make a special supper to the Lord.” ¹⁰ Then Pharaoh said to them, “Let the Lord be with you if I ever let you go with your little ones! See, you have something bad in mind. ¹¹ No! You men go and worship the Lord. For that is what you want.” And Moses and Aaron were sent away from Pharaoh.

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts to come upon the land of Egypt. They will eat every plant of the land, all that the hail has left.” ¹³ So Moses put out his special stick over the land of Egypt. And the Lord sent an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. ¹⁴ The locusts came over all the land of Egypt and they stayed on the whole country of Egypt. There were very many. There had never been so many locusts. And there would never be so many again. ¹⁵ For they covered the whole land and made it dark. They ate every plant of the land, and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant of the field through all the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in a hurry. He said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. ¹⁷ So now forgive my sin only this once. Pray to the Lord your God to take this death away from me.” ¹⁸ So Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. ¹⁹ And the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind. It lifted the locusts and sent them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left in all the country of Egypt. ²⁰ But the Lord made Pharaoh’s heart hard. He did not let the people of Israel go.

Darkness Covers the Land

²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand toward the sky. And there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness people will feel.” ²² So Moses put out his hand toward the sky. And there was darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. ²³ The Egyptians did not see each other. No one got up from his place for three days. But all the people of Israel had light in their homes. ²⁴ Then Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, “Go and worship the Lord. Your children may go with you also. Only let your flocks and your cattle stay.” ²⁵ But Moses said, “You must let us have gifts to give in worship and gifts for burning, so we may give them to the Lord our God. ²⁶ So our animals will go with us also. Not a foot of an animal will be left behind. For we will take some of them to use as we worship the Lord our God. And until we are there, we do not know which ones we will use in worshiping the Lord.” ²⁷ But the Lord made Pharaoh’s heart hard. He was not willing to let them go. ²⁸ Pharaoh said to Moses, “Go away from me! Make sure that you do not see my face again! For the day you see my face again, you will die!” ²⁹ Moses said, “You are right. I will never see your face again.”

The First-Born Die

11 The Lord said to Moses, “I will bring trouble upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt one more time. After that he will let you go. He will not only let you go, but he will make you leave. ² Tell the people that each man should ask his neighbor and each woman ask her neighbor for things made of silver and gold.” ³ Then the Lord gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians. And the man Moses was respected in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of Pharaoh’s servants and the people.

⁴ Moses said, “The Lord says this: ‘About midnight I will go through Egypt. ⁵ And all the first-born in the land of Egypt will die, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the first-born of the servant girl grinding the grain, and even the first-born of the cattle. ⁶ There will be loud crying in all the land of Egypt, more than has ever been heard before or will ever be heard again. ⁷ Not even a dog will make a sound against those of Israel, man or animal, so you may know that the Lord divides Egypt from Israel.’ ⁸ All these who are your servants will come to me and bow in front of me. They will say, ‘Go away, you and all the people who follow you.’ After that I will go.” And he went away from Pharaoh very angry. ⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you. So I will do more powerful works in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron did all these great works in front of Pharaoh. But the Lord made Pharaoh’s heart hard. He did not let the people of Israel leave his land.