Xuất Ai Cập Ký 10

A warning of locusts

¹The LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh. It is I who have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials, in order to set these signs of mine right among them, ²and so that you can tell your children and grandchildren the story of how I made a mockery of Egypt, and of the signs I set among them. And you will all know that I am the LORD.”^{a 3}So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and told him, “The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says this: ‘How long will you go on refusing to bow before me? Release my people, so that they can serve me. ⁴If you refuse to release my people, then tomorrow I will bring locusts across your borders. ⁵They will blanket the face of the land until no one can see the ground. They will consume whatever the hail spared, all that you still have left, and they will feed on every tree of yours that grows in the open country. ⁶Your houses will be full of them, and so will the houses of all your officials and of all the Egyptians. It will be a sight your ancestors never saw, neither your fathers nor their fathers, in all the time they have lived on this soil.’” Then Moses turned and went out from Pharaoh’s presence. ⁷Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long must this man be a trap for us? Let the men go and serve the LORD their God. Have you still not grasped that Egypt is lost?”^{b 8}Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, who said to them, “Go and serve the LORD your God. But exactly who will be going?” ⁹Moses said, “Young and old alike, we will go. Our sons and daughters will go, and our flocks and herds too, for we are holding a festival of the LORD.” ¹⁰Pharaoh said to them, “So the LORD be with you, just as surely as I will let you go with your little ones! Plainly you are plotting harm.^{c 11}Not that way! You men may go and serve the LORD; that, after all, is what you want.” With that, they were driven away from Pharaoh.

Locusts cover the land

¹²The LORD said to Moses, “Hold out your hand over the land of Egypt to bring the locusts. They will come up over the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the country, everything the hail left standing.” ¹³So Moses held out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD sent an east wind blowing over the land all that day and all that night. When morning came, the locusts were there, borne in on the east wind. ¹⁴The locusts swept over the whole land of Egypt and settled throughout its territory in vast numbers. No locust swarm before it had ever been like this one, and none after it will be. ¹⁵They covered the face of the whole land until the land went dark. They ate up every plant in the country and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had spared. Across the whole land of Egypt, no tree and no field plant kept a single green leaf. ¹⁶Pharaoh hastily sent for Moses and Aaron. He said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you too. ¹⁷Now please forgive my sin, just this once. Plead with the LORD your God to lift this death from me, if nothing more.” ¹⁸Moses went out from Pharaoh’s presence and prayed to the LORD. ¹⁹Then the LORD turned the wind around. A gale blew in from the west, lifted the locusts, and swept them into the Red Sea. In all the territory of Egypt not one locust remained.^{d 20}Yet the LORD made Pharaoh stubborn, and he did not release the Israelites.

Three days of darkness

²¹The LORD said to Moses, “Raise your hand toward the sky, and darkness will come over the land of Egypt, a darkness so thick that people can feel it.”^{e 22}So Moses raised his hand toward the sky, and deep darkness lay over the whole land of Egypt for three days. ²³For three days nobody could see anybody else, and nobody stirred from where they were. But the Israelites all had light in their homes. ²⁴Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go and serve the LORD. Only your flocks and herds are to be kept back; even your little ones may go along with you.” ²⁵Moses said, “You yourself must even put into our hands sacrifices and burnt offerings for us to offer to the LORD our God.^{f 26}Our animals are coming with us too; not a single hoof will stay behind. It is from them that we must take what we use to serve the LORD our God, and until we reach the place, we ourselves cannot tell which ones we will need to serve the LORD.” ²⁷But the LORD made Pharaoh stubborn, and he would not agree to let them go. ²⁸Pharaoh said to him, “Out of my sight! Watch yourself: do not come before me ever again. If you see my face one more time, that day you will die.” ²⁹Moses said, “You are right. This is the last time I will see your face.”