Exodus 8

1 Then the Lord told Moses, “Go and see Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they can worship me.

And the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharao, and thou shalt say to him, These things says the Lord: send forth my people, that they may serve me.

2 If you refuse to let them leave, I will send a plague of frogs all over your country.

And if thou wilt not send them forth, behold, I afflict all thy borders with frogs:

3 They will swarm out of the Nile, and they will enter your palace and get into your bedroom and jump onto your bed. They will get into the houses of your officials and jump around your people—even into your ovens and breadmaking bowls.

and the river shall teem with frogs, and they shall go up and enter into thy houses, and into thy bed-chambers, and upon thy beds, and upon the houses of thy servants, and of thy people and on thy dough, and on thine ovens.

4 Frogs will jump all over you, your people, and all your officials.’”

And upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, shall the frogs come up.

5 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Hold out your walking stick in your hand over the rivers and canals and ponds, and make frogs spread over Egypt.’”

And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron thy brother, Stretch forth with the hand thy rod over the rivers, and over the canals, and over the pools, and bring up the frogs.

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

And Aaron stretched forth his hand over the waters of Egypt, and brought up the frogs: and the frog was brought up, and covered the land of Egypt.

7 But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing using their magic arts. They brought up frogs in Egypt.

And the charmers of the Egyptians also did likewise with their sorceries, and brought up the frogs on the land of Egypt.

8 Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and pleaded with them, “Pray to the Lord, and ask him to take away the frogs from me and my people. Then I will let your people go so they can offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said, Pray for me to the Lord, and let him take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will send them away, and they shall sacrifice to the Lord.

9 “You may have the honor of deciding when I'll pray for you, your officials, and your people that the frogs will be removed from you and your houses. They will remain only in the Nile.”

And Moses said to Pharao, Appoint me [a time] when I shall pray for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to cause the frogs to disappear from thee, and from thy people, and from your houses, only in the river shall they be left behind.

10 “Do it tomorrow,” Pharaoh replied. Moses said, “It will happen as you have requested so you will know that there is no one like the Lord our God.

And he said, On the morrow: he said therefore, As thou has said; that thou mayest know, that there is no other [God] but the Lord.

11 The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people, and they will remain only in the Nile.”

And the frogs shall be removed away from thee, and from your houses and from the villages, and from thy servants, and from thy people, only in the river they shall be left.

12 Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, and Moses pleaded with the Lord about the frogs he had sent against Pharaoh.

And Moses and Aaron went forth from Pharao, and Moses cried to the Lord concerning the restriction of the frogs, as Pharao appointed him.

13 The Lord did as Moses asked. The frogs in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields died.

And the Lord did as Moses said, and the frogs died out of the houses, and out of the villages, and out of the fields.

14 The people collected them in pile upon pile, and the whole country smelled terrible.

And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank.

15 But when Pharaoh realized the plague had passed he chose to become hard and stubborn again, wouldn't listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had predicted.

And when Pharao saw that there was relief, his heart was hardened, and he did not hearken to them, as the Lord spoke.

16 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Pick up your walking stick and hit the dust of the ground. The dust will become gnats swarming all over Egypt.’”

And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thy rod with thy hand and smite the dust of the earth; and there shall be lice both upon man, and upon quadrupeds, and in all the land of Egypt.

17 They did what the Lord said. When Aaron lifted up his walking stick and hit the dust of the earth, gnats swarmed over both people and animals. The dust in the whole of Egypt turned into gnats.

So Aaron stretched out his rod with his hand, and smote the dust of the earth; and the lice were on men and on quadrupeds, and in all the dust of the earth there were lice.

18 The magicians also tried to make gnats using their magic arts, but they couldn't. The gnats stayed on both people and animals.

And the charmers also did so with their sorceries, to bring forth the louse, and they could not. And the lice were both on the men and on the quadrupeds.

19 “This is an act of God,” the magicians told Pharaoh. But Pharaoh chose to be stubbornly hard-hearted, and he wouldn't listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had predicted.

So the charmers said to Pharao, This is the finger of God. But the heart of Pharao was hardened, and he hearkened not to them, as the Lord said.

20 The Lord told Moses, “Tomorrow morning get up early and block Pharaoh's way as he walks down to the river. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they can worship me.

And the Lord said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharao: and behold, he will go forth to the water, and thou shalt say to him, These things says the Lord: Send away my people, that they may serve me in the wilderness.

21 If you don't let my people leave, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, and on your people and your houses. Every Egyptian house and even the ground on which they stand will be filled with swarms of flies.

And if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I send upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and upon your houses, the dog-fly; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with the dog-fly, even throughout the land upon which they are.

22 However, on this occasion I will treat the land of Goshen differently—that's where my people live—there won't be any swarms of flies there. This is how you will know that I, the Lord, am here in your country.

and I will distinguish marvellously in that day the land of Gesem, on which my people dwell, in which the dog-fly shall not be: that thou mayest know that I am the Lord the God of all the earth.

23 I will distinguish my people from your people. You will see this sign that confirms it tomorrow.”

And I will put a difference between my people and thy people, and on the morrow shall this be on the land. And the Lord did thus.

24 The Lord did what he had said. Huge swarms of flies swept into Pharaoh's palace and into the houses of his officials. The whole of Egypt was devastated because of these swarms of flies.

And the dog-fly came in abundance into the houses of Pharao, and into the houses of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt; and the land was destroyed by the dog-fly.

25 Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and told them, “Go and offer sacrifices to your God here in this country.”

And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, saying, Go and sacrifice to the Lord your God in the land.

26 “No, that wouldn't be the right thing to do,” Moses replied. “The sacrifices we offer to the Lord our God would be offensive to Egyptians. If we went ahead and offered sacrifices offensive to Egyptians, they'd stone us!

And Moses said, It cannot be so, for we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God the abominations of the Egyptians; for if we sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians before them, we shall be stoned.

27 We must make a three-day journey into the wilderness and offer sacrifices there to the Lord our God as he has told us.”

We will go a journey of three days into the wilderness, and we will sacrifice to the Lord our God, as the Lord said to us.

28 “I'll let you go and offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the desert, but don't go very far,” Pharaoh answered. “Now pray for me that this plague ends.”

And Pharao said, I [will] let you go, and do ye sacrifice to your God in the wilderness, but do not go very far away: pray then for me to the Lord.

29 “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord,” Moses replied, “and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. But Pharaoh should be sure not to be deceitful again and refuse to let the people go and offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

And Moses said, I then will go forth from thee and pray to God, and the dog-fly shall depart both from thy servants, and from thy people to-morrow. Do not thou, Pharao, deceive again, so as not to send the people away to do sacrifice to the Lord.

30 Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord,

And Moses went out from Pharao, and prayed to God.

31 and the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Not a single fly remained.

And the Lord did as Moses said, and removed the dog-fly from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people, and there was not one left.

32 But once again Pharaoh chose to be stubbornly hard-hearted and would not let the people leave.

And Pharao hardened his heart, even on this occasion, and he would not send the people away.