Exodus 10

¹ Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh, for it is I who have made his heart and his courtiers stubborn, so that I could work these signs of mine among them;

² so that you can tell your sons and your grandsons how I made fools of the Egyptians and what signs I performed among them, to let you know that I am Yahweh’.

³ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They said to him, ‘This is the message of Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, “How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go to offer me worship.

⁴ If you refuse to let my people go, then tomorrow I will send locusts over your country.

⁵ They shall cover the surface of the soil so thick that the soil will not be seen. They shall devour the remainder that is left to you, all that has survived from the hail; they shall devour all your trees growing in the fields; they shall fill your palaces, the houses of your courtiers, the houses of all the Egyptians.

⁶ Your forefathers and their ancestors will never have seen the like since first they lived in the country.”‘ Then Moses turned away and left Pharaoh’s presence.

⁷ And Pharaoh’s courtiers said to him, ‘How much longer is this man to be the cause of our trouble? Let the people go to offer worship to Yahweh their God. Do you not understand that Egypt is now on the brink of ruin?’

⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. ‘You may go’ he said to them ‘and offer worship to Yahweh your God. But who are to go?’

⁹ ‘We shall take our young men and our old men’ Moses answered. ‘We shall take our sons and daughters, our flocks and our herds, because for us it is a feast of Yahweh.’

¹⁰ ‘May Yahweh be with you if ever I let you and your little ones go!’ Pharaoh retorted. ‘It is plain you are up to no good.

¹¹ Oh no! You men may go and offer worship to Yahweh, since that is what you wanted.’ And with that they were dismissed from the presence of Pharaoh.

¹² Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt to bring the locusts. Let them invade the land of Egypt and devour all its greenstuff, all that the hail has left.’

¹³ And over the land of Egypt Moses stretched his staff, and Yahweh brought up an east wind over the land and it blew all that day and night. By morning, the east wind had brought the locusts.

¹⁴ The locusts invaded the whole land of Egypt. On the whole territory of Egypt they fell, in numbers so great that such swarms had never been seen before, nor would be again.

¹⁵ They covered the surface of the soil till the ground was black with them. They devoured all the greenstuff in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. No green was left on tree or plant in the fields throughout the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ Pharaoh sent urgently for Moses and Aaron. ‘I have sinned against Yahweh your God,’ he said ‘and against yourselves.

¹⁷ Forgive my sin, I implore you, this once, and entreat Yahweh your God just to rid me of this deadly plague.’

¹⁸ So Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and interceded with Yahweh.

¹⁹ Then Yahweh made the wind veer till it blew so strongly from the west that it caught up the locusts and carried them off towards the Sea of Reeds. There was not one locust left in the whole land of Egypt.

²⁰ But Yahweh made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn, and he did not let the sons of Israel go. The ninth plague: the darkness

²¹ Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand towards heaven, and let darkness, darkness so thick that it can be felt, cover the land of Egypt’.

²² So Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven, and for three days there was deep darkness over the whole land of Egypt.

²³ No one could see anyone else or move about for three days, but where the sons of Israel lived there was light for them.

²⁴ Pharaoh summoned Moses. ‘Go and offer worship to Yahweh,’ he said but your flocks and herds must remain here. Your children may go with you too.’

²⁵ Moses replied, ‘But you must let us have means of offering sacrifices and holocausts to Yahweh our God.

²⁶ Our livestock, too, must go with us; not one head of cattle must be left behind: it must be from our livestock that we provide for the worship of Yahweh our God; until we reach the place, we do not know ourselves what worship we shall have to offer Yahweh.’

²⁷ But Yahweh made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn, and he refused to let them go.

²⁸ Pharaoh said to Moses, ‘Out of my sight! Take care! Never appear before me again, for on the day you do, you die!’

²⁹ Moses replied, ‘You yourself have said it: never again shall I appear before you.’