Exodus 10
1 And YHWH says to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have declared his heart hard, and the heart of his servants, so that I set these signs of Mine in their midst,
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Go to the king [again]. I have made him and his officials stubborn [IDM]. I have done that in order that I would [have a good reason to] perform all these plagues among them,
2 and so that you recount in the ears of your son, and of your son’s son, that which I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have set among them, and you have known that I [am] YHWH.”
and also in order that you would [be able to] tell your children and your grandchildren how I caused the Egyptians to act very foolishly [when] I performed all these miracles. Then all of you will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].”
3 And Moses comes in—Aaron also—to Pharaoh, and they say to him, “Thus said YHWH, God of the Hebrews: Until when have you refused to be humbled at My presence? Send My people away, and they serve Me,
So Aaron and Moses/I went into the king’s [palace] and said to him, “Yahweh God, whom we Hebrews [worship], says this: ‘How long will you stubbornly refuse to do what I tell you [MTY]? Let my people go, in order that they may worship me [in the desert]
4 for if you are refusing to send My people away, behold, tomorrow I am bringing in the locust into your border,
If you [keep] refusing to let them go, I warn you that tomorrow I will bring (locusts/[large flying insects called] locusts) into your country.
5 and it has covered the eye of the land, and none is able to see the land, and it has eaten the remnant of that which is escaped, which is left to you from the hail, and it has eaten every tree which is springing out of the field for you;
[They will completely cover the ground so that] you will not even be able to see the ground. They will eat everything that the hail did not [destroy]. They will eat [everything that is left on] the trees.
6 and they have filled your houses, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, which neither your fathers nor your father’s fathers have seen, since the day of their being on the ground to this day.” And he turns and goes out from Pharaoh.
They will fill your houses, and the houses of all your officials, and the houses of all [the rest of] the Egyptians. [There will be more locusts] than you or your parents or your grandparents have ever seen, from the time your ancestors first came to [this] land until the present time!’” Then he/I turned and [Aaron and] I left the king.
7 And the servants of Pharaoh say to him, “Until when does this [one] become a snare to us? Send the men away, and they serve their God YHWH; do you not yet know that Egypt has perished?”
The king’s officials said to him, “(How long is this man going to continue to bring disasters on us?/We must not let this man continue to cause trouble for us!) [RHQ] Let the [Israeli] men leave, in order that they may worship Yahweh, their god. (Do you not yet understand that [this man] has ruined Egypt?/You ought to realize by now that [this man] has ruined Egypt!)” [RHQ]
8 And Moses is brought back—Aaron also—to Pharaoh, and he says to them, “Go, serve your God YHWH, but who—who [are] those going?”
So they brought Aaron and Moses/me back to the king. He said to them/us, “[All right], you can go and worship Yahweh your god. But who are the ones who will go?”
9 And Moses says, “With our young ones, and with our aged ones, we go, with our sons, and with our daughters, with our flock, and our herd, we go, for we have a festival to YHWH.”
Moses/I replied, “We [all] need to go, everyone, including those who are young and those who are old. We need to take our sons and our daughters and our flocks [of sheep and goats] and herds [of livestock], because we must have a festival to [honor] Yahweh.”
10 And he says to them, “Be it so, YHWH [is] with you when I send you and your infants away; see—for evil [is] before your faces.
[Moses/I really did not intend that the Israelis would ever return to Egypt, and the king knew that also. So] the king replied [sarcastically], “[If you all leave], [it will be clear that] Yahweh has helped you, but I myself will never let you [take] your children [and your wives] when you go! It is clear that you are wickedly planning [not to return].
11 Not so! Go now, you who [are] men, and serve YHWH, for that you are seeking”; and [one] casts them out from the presence of Pharaoh.
So no, [I will not let you all go]. [The Israeli] men may go [and worship Yahweh], if that is what you want.” Then the king expelled them/us from [his palace].
12 And YHWH says to Moses, “Stretch out your hand against the land of Egypt for the locust, and it goes up against the land of Egypt, and eats every herb of the land—all that the hail has left.”
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Reach out your hand as [though you were stretching it] over the land to welcome the locusts. They will come to the country of Egypt and eat every plant that is [left] in the land, every plant that the hail has not destroyed.”
13 And Moses stretches out his rod against the land of Egypt, and YHWH has led an east wind over the land all that day, and all the night; the morning has been, and the east wind has lifted up the locust.
So Moses/I held out his/my stick [as though he/I was stretching it] over the whole land of Egypt. Then Yahweh caused a [strong] wind to blow from the east, and it blew over the land all that day and all that night. By the [next] morning, it had brought the locusts.
14 And the locust goes up against all the land of Egypt, and rests in all the border of Egypt—very grievous: before it there has not been such a locust as it, and after it there is none such;
The locusts swarmed all over Egypt. It was larger than any swarm of locusts that had ever [been seen], and there will never be [a swarm of locusts like that] again.
15 and it covers the eye of all the land, and the land is darkened; and it eats every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail has left, and there has not been left any green thing in the trees, or in the herb of the field, in all the land of Egypt.
They covered the surface of the ground and made it [appear] black. They ate all the plants in the land and everything on the trees that had not been destroyed by the hail. Nothing that was green was left on any plant or on any tree, anywhere in Egypt.
16 And Pharaoh hurries to call for Moses and for Aaron and says, “I have sinned against your God YHWH, and against you,
The king quickly summoned Aaron and Moses/me and said, “I have sinned against Yahweh, your god, and against you [two].
17 and now, please bear with my sin, only this time, and make supplication to your God YHWH, that He may turn aside from off me only this death.”
So now I ask you to forgive me this one time [for having] sinned, and pray to Yahweh your god to stop [these locusts] [MTY] [from causing everything] to die.”
18 And he goes out from Pharaoh, and makes supplication to YHWH,
They/We left the king, and Moses/I prayed to Yahweh.
19 and YHWH turns a very strong sea wind, and it lifts up the locust, and blows it into the Red Sea—there has not been left one locust in all the border of Egypt;
Then Yahweh changed the wind so that it blew [strongly] from the west, and it blew all the locusts into the Red Sea (OR, the Gulf of Suez). There was not one locust left anywhere in the country of Egypt.
20 and YHWH strengthens the heart of Pharaoh, and he has not sent the sons of Israel away.
But Yahweh made the king stubborn [IDM] [again], and he did not let the Israeli people go.
21 And YHWH says to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the heavens, and there is darkness over the land of Egypt, and the darkness is felt.”
Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Reach your hand up toward the sky, in order that there will be darkness over all the land of Egypt, a darkness [so complete] that people will have to grope around [to know where to walk].”
22 And Moses stretches out his hand toward the heavens, and there is darkness—thick darkness in all the land of Egypt [for] three days;
So Moses/I reached his/my hand toward the sky, and it became totally dark all over Egypt for three days [and nights].
23 they have not seen one another, and none has risen from his place [for] three days; but there has been light for all the sons of Israel in their dwellings.
People could not see each other. No one left his house during that whole time. But there was light in the area where the Israeli people were living.
24 And Pharaoh calls to Moses and says, “Go, serve YHWH, only your flock and your herd are stayed, your infants also go with you”;
The king summoned Moses/me and said, “All right, you may go and worship Yahweh. [Your wives and] your children may go with you. But your flocks of sheep and goats and your herds of cattle must remain here.”
25 and Moses says, “You also give sacrifices and burnt-offerings in our hand, and we have prepared for our God YHWH;
But Moses/I replied, “[No], you must let us [take along the sheep and goats, in order] that we may have [some of them] to sacrifice and give as burned offerings to Yahweh, our God.
26 and also our livestock go with us—there is not left a hoof, for we take from it to serve our God YHWH; and we do not know how we serve YHWH until our going there.”
Our livestock must also go with us; we are not going to leave one of them [SYN] behind. We must take them to worship Yahweh. We will not know [which animals to sacrifice] until we get to where we are going.”
27 And YHWH strengthens the heart of Pharaoh, and he has not been willing to send them away;
But Yahweh made the king [continue to be] stubborn [IDM], and he would not let [the Israeli] people go.
28 and Pharaoh says to him, “Go from me, take heed to yourself, do not add to see my face, for in the day you see my face you die”;
The king said to me, “Get out of here! Make sure that you never come to see me [SYN] again! The day you see me again, [I will have] you executed!”
29 and Moses says, “You have spoken correctly, I do not add to see your face anymore.”
Moses/I replied, “You are correct! You will never see me [SYN] again!”
