Exodus 10
1 Then said Yahweh unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, —for, I, have suffered his heart to be dull and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs, 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 that thou mayest recount in the ears of thy son and thy sons’ son, what I did in derision of the Egyptians, and my signs which I displayed among them, —so shall ye know that I, am Yahweh.
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 and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him—Thus, saith Yahweh, God of the Hebrews, How long hast thou refused to humble thyself before me? Let my people go that they may 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 But if, refusing, thou art to let my people go, behold me bringing in tomorrow a locust within thy bounds;
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 shall cover the eye of the land, so that one shall not be able to see the land, —and it shall eat the residue that hath escaped, that is left you from the hail, and shall eat up all the trees that sprout for you out of the field;
[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 shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants and the houses of all the Egyptians, such as thy fathers and thy fathers’ fathers have never seen, from the day they came to be on the ground, until this day. And he turned away, and came out from the presence of 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 Then said the servants of Pharaoh unto him, How long shall this [man] become to us a snare? Let the men go, that they may serve Yahweh their God. Not yet, knowest thou, that Egypt is, ruined?
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 So Moses and Aaron were brought back unto pharaoh, and he said unto them—Go, serve Yahweh your God, —who, are they that are 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 said, With our young and with our old, will we go, —with our sons and with our daughters with our flocks and with our herds, will we go, —for, the festival of Yahweh, is ours.
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 Then he said unto them: Let Yahweh, so, be with you, when I let go you and your little ones! Look out for, harm, is straight 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, I pray you, ye grown men and serve Yahweh, for, that, is what, ye, were seeking. And they were driven 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 Then said Yahweh unto Moses—Stretch forth thy hand over the land of Egypt for the locust, that it may come up over the land of Egypt, —and may eat up every herb of the land, all that the hail hath 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 stretched forth his staff over the land of Egypt, and, Yahweh, caused an east wind to drive through the land, all that day, and all the night, —when the morning, had come, the east wind, had brought 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 came up over all the land of Egypt, and settled in all the bounds of Egypt, —very grievous, before it, had not been such a locust as that, neither after it, should be one like it.
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 So it covered the eye of all the land and the land was darkened, and it did eat every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees, which the hail had left remaining, —so that there was not left remaining any green sprout 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 Then hastened Pharaoh, to call for Moses and for Aaron, —and said—I have sinned against Yahweh your God, 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 Now, therefore, forgive I pray you my sin—only this time, and make entreaty to Yahweh your God, —that he may take away from me, at least, 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 So he came out from Pharaoh, —and made entreaty unto Yahweh;
They/We left the king, and Moses/I prayed to Yahweh.
19 and Yahweh turned back a west wind strong exceedingly, and carried away the locust and cast it into the Red Sea, —there was not left a single locust in all the bounds 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 But Yahweh suffered the heart of Pharaoh to wax bold, —and he did not let the sons of Israel go.
But Yahweh made the king stubborn [IDM] [again], and he did not let the Israeli people go.
21 Then said Yahweh unto Moses: Stretch forth thy hand over the heavens, that there may be darkness, over the land of Egypt, —and that one may feel the darkness.
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 So Moses stretched forth his hand over the heavens, —and there was 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 saw not one another neither rose any man from his couch for three days, —but all the sons of Israel, had light 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 Then Pharaoh called out unto Moses and said—Go serve Yahweh, only, your flocks and your herds, shall be left, —even your little ones shall 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 said, Even thou thyself, shalt give into our hands sacrifices and ascending-offerings, —so shall we present offerings to Yahweh our God.
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 Moreover also, our own cattle, shall go with us—there shall not be left behind, a hoof, for thereof, must we take, to serve Yahweh our God, —even we ourselves, cannot know wherewith we must serve Yahweh, until we have come in thither.
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 Yahweh let the heart of Pharaoh wax bold, —and he was not willing to let them go.
But Yahweh made the king [continue to be] stubborn [IDM], and he would not let [the Israeli] people go.
28 So Pharaoh said to him—Get thee from me, —take heed to thyself—do not any more! see my face, for in the day thou dost see my face, thou shalt 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 said—Well hast thou spoken, —no more again to see thy face.
Moses/I replied, “You are correct! You will never see me [SYN] again!”
