Exodus 8

1 And YHWH says to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, and you have said to him, Thus said YHWH: Send My people away, and they serve Me;

Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Go back to the king and tell him, ‘Yahweh says that you must let my people go, in order that they can worship me [in the desert].

2 and if you are refusing to send [them] away, behold, I am striking all your border with frogs;

But if you refuse to let them go, I will punish you by sending frogs to cover your country.

3 and the River has teemed [with] frogs, and they have gone up and gone into your house, and into the inner-chamber of your bed, and on your couch, and into the house of your servants, and among your people, and into your ovens, and into your kneading-troughs;

[Not only] will the Nile [River] be full of frogs, [but] the frogs will come up [out of the river] into your palace. They will come into your bedroom and onto your bed. They will be in the houses of your officials and all [the rest of] your people. They will even get into your ovens and your pans for mixing the materials for baking bread.

4 indeed, on you, and on your people, and on all your servants the frogs go up.”

The frogs will jump up on you and your officials and [all the rest of] your people.’”

5 And YHWH says to Moses, “Say to Aaron, Stretch out your hand, with your rod, against the streams, against the rivers, and against the ponds, and cause the frogs to come up against the land of Egypt.”

Yahweh [also] said to Moses/me, “Say this to Aaron: ‘Hold your stick in your hand and stretch it out [as though you were stretching it] over the river, the canals, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come up [from all this water and] cover the land of Egypt.’”

6 And Aaron stretches out his hand against the waters of Egypt, and the frog comes up, and covers the land of Egypt;

[After Moses/I told that to] Aaron, he stretched out his hand [as though he were stretching it] over all the water in Egypt. And the frogs came up [from the water and] covered Egypt.

7 and the enchanters do so with their secrets, and cause the frogs to come up against the land of Egypt.

But the men who performed magic did the same thing, and they caused [more] frogs to come up [from the water onto the land].

8 And Pharaoh calls for Moses and for Aaron and says, “Make supplication to YHWH, that he may turn aside the frogs from me, and from my people, and I send the people away, and they sacrifice to YHWH.”

Then the king summoned Moses/me and said, “Ask Yahweh to take away these frogs from me and my people. After that happens, I will allow your people to go, in order that they can offer sacrifices to Yahweh.”

9 And Moses says to Pharaoh, “Beautify yourself over me; when do I make supplication for you, and for your servants, and for your people, to cut off the frogs from you and from your houses—only in the River they remain?”

Moses/I said to the king, “I will be glad to pray for you and for your officials and for [the rest of] your people. [I will ask Yahweh] to get rid of the frogs from all your houses. The only frogs left will be [those] in the Nile [River]. Just tell me when I should pray.”

10 And he says, “Tomorrow.” And he says, “According to your word [it is], so that you know that there is none like our God YHWH,

He replied, “Tomorrow.” So Moses/I said, “[I will do] what you say, and then you will know that Yahweh God, the one we [worship, is the only true god], and that there is no other god like him.

11 and the frogs have turned aside from you, and from your houses, and from your servants, and from your people; only in the River they remain.”

The frogs will leave you and your officials and all [the rest of] your people. The only ones left will be in the Nile [River].”

12 And Moses—Aaron also—goes out from Pharaoh, and Moses cries to YHWH concerning the matter of the frogs which He has set on Pharaoh;

Aaron and Moses/I left the king. Then Moses/I prayed to Yahweh, [asking him to take away] all the frogs he had [brought to the king’s land].

13 and YHWH does according to the word of Moses, and the frogs die out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields,

And Yahweh did just what Moses/I [asked him to do]. As a result, all the frogs in the houses, in their courtyards, and in the fields died.

14 and they heap them up together, and the land stinks.

The people gathered together all the dead frogs into big piles, and the land stank [from the smell].

15 And Pharaoh sees that there has been a respite, and he has hardened his heart, and has not listened to them, as YHWH has spoken.

But when the king saw that [the problem] was ended, he became stubborn [IDM] [again]. And just as Yahweh had predicted, he would not pay attention to what Aaron and Moses/we told him.

16 And YHWH says to Moses, “Say to Aaron, Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the land, and it has become gnats in all the land of Egypt.”

Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Tell Aaron to strike the ground with his stick. [When he does that], all the fine particles of ground/dust will become gnats, all over the land of Egypt.”

17 And they do so, and Aaron stretches out his hand with his rod, and strikes the dust of the land, and the gnats are on man and on beast; all the dust of the land has been gnats in all the land of Egypt.

So they/we did that. Aaron struck the ground with his stick, and all over Egypt, the fine particles of ground/dirt became gnats. The gnats covered the people and all [their] animals.

18 And the enchanters do so with their secrets, to bring out the gnats, and they have not been able, and the gnats are on man and on beast;

The men who worked magic tried to cause gnats to appear, but they were unable to do it. So the gnats [stayed] on the Egyptian people and on their animals.

19 and the enchanters say to Pharaoh, “It [is] the finger of God”; and the heart of Pharaoh is strong, and he has not listened to them, as YHWH has spoken.

The men who worked magic said to the king, “It is God who has done this with his power [MTY]!” But the king continued to be stubborn [IDM], and he would not pay attention to us, just as Yahweh had predicted.

20 And YHWH says to Moses, “Rise early in the morning, and station yourself before Pharaoh, behold, he is going out to the waters, and you have said to him, Thus said YHWH: Send My people away, and they serve Me;

Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Get up early [tomorrow] morning. [Go down] to the river and wait for the king. [When he comes to bathe] [MTY], say to him, ‘This is what Yahweh says to you: “Let my people go, in order that they may worship me [in the desert].

21 for if you are not sending My people away, behold, I am sending against you, and against your servants, and against your people, and against your houses, the beetle, and the houses of the Egyptians have been full of the beetle, and also the ground on which they are.

[I warn you that] if you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies to you. They will come down on you and on your officials and on [the rest of] your people. The houses of all you Egyptians will be full of flies. They will [even] cover the ground.

22 And I have separated in that day the land of Goshen, in which My people are staying, that the beetle is not there, so that you know that I [am] YHWH in the midst of the land,

But when that happens, I will treat the Goshen region, where my people live, differently. There will be no swarms of flies there. In that way, you will know that I, Yahweh, am doing these things [here] in this land.

23 and I have put a division between My people and your people; this sign is tomorrow.”

I will distinguish clearly between [how I act toward] my people and [how I act toward] your people. And this plague is going to happen tomorrow!”’”

24 And YHWH does so, and the grievous beetle enters the house of Pharaoh, and the house of his servants, and in all the land of Egypt the land is corrupted from the presence of the beetle.

[Early the next morning, Moses/I told that to the king, but the king would not pay any attention]. So Yahweh did what he said he would do. He sent great swarms of flies into the palace of the king and into the houses of his officials. The whole country of Egypt was ruined by the flies.

25 And Pharaoh calls to Moses and to Aaron and says, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land”;

Then the king summoned Aaron and Moses/me and said, “You Israeli people can go and offer sacrifices to your god, [but you must do it] here in [this] land.”

26 and Moses says, “[It is] not right to do so—for us to sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to our God YHWH; behold, we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes—and they do not stone us!

But Moses/I replied, “It would not be right [for us] to do that, because we will be offering sacrifices that are very offensive to the Egyptian people. If we offer sacrifices that the Egyptian people think are disgusting, they will kill us by throwing stones at us [RHQ]!

27 We go a journey of three days into the wilderness and have sacrificed to our God YHWH as He says to us.”

No, we need to travel for three days into the desert. There we will offer sacrifices to Yahweh, the God we worship, just as he commands (OR, has commanded) us.”

28 And Pharaoh says, “I send you away, and you have sacrificed to your God YHWH in the wilderness, only do not go very far off; make supplication for me”;

So the king said, “I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to Yahweh, your god, in the desert. But you must not go very far. [Now] pray for me!”

29 and Moses says, “Behold, I am going out from you, and have made supplication to YHWH, and tomorrow the beetle has turned aside from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; only, do not let Pharaoh add to deceive in not sending the people away to sacrifice to YHWH.”

Moses/I said, “Listen [to me]! After I leave you, I will pray to Yahweh, [asking] that tomorrow [he will cause] the swarms of flies to leave you and your officials and [the rest of] your people. But do not deceive us again by refusing to let our people go to offer sacrifices to Yahweh!”

30 And Moses goes out from Pharaoh, and makes supplication to YHWH,

Then Moses/I left the king and prayed to Yahweh.

31 and YHWH does according to the word of Moses, and turns aside the beetle from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people—there has not been one left;

And Yahweh did what Moses/I asked, and he got rid of the swarms of flies from [around] the king and his officials and [the rest of] his people. No flies remained.

32 and Pharaoh also hardens his heart at this time, and has not sent the people away.

But the king was stubborn [IDM] this time also, and he did not allow the Israeli people to go.