Exodus 10
1 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,
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Go in to Pharao: for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that these signs may come upon them; in order
2 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].”
that you may relate in the ears of your children, and to your children's children, in how many things I have mocked the Egyptians, and my wonders which I wrought among them; and you shall know that I [am] the Lord.
3 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]
And Moses and Aaron went in before Pharao, and they said to him, These things says the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long do you refuse to reverence me? Send my people away, that they may serve me.
4 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.
But if you will not send my people away, behold, at this hour to-morrow I will bring an abundance of locusts upon all your coasts.
5 [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.
And they shall cover the face of the earth, and you shall not be able to see the earth; and they shall devour all that is left of the abundance of the earth, which the hail has left you, and shall devour every tree that grows for you on the land.
6 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.
And your houses shall be filled, and the houses of your servants, and all the houses in all the land of the Egyptians; things which your fathers have never seen, nor their forefathers, from the day that they were upon the earth until this day. And Moses turned away and departed from Pharao.
7 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]
And the servants of Pharao say to him, How long shall this be a snare to us? send away the men, that they may serve their God; will you know that Egypt is destroyed?
8 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?”
And they brought back both Moses and Aaron to Pharao; and he said to them, Go and serve the Lord your God; but who are they that are going with you?
9 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.”
And Moses said, We will go with the young and the old, with our sons, and daughters, and sheep, and oxen, for it is a feast of the Lord.
10 [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].
And he said to them, So let the Lord be with you: as I [will] send you away, [must I send away] you store also? see that evil is attached to you.
11 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].
Not so, but let the men go and serve God, for this you yourselves seek; and they cast them out from the presence of Pharao.
12 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.”
And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, and let the locust come up on the land, and it shall devour every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees, which the hail left.
13 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.
And Moses lifted up his rod towards heaven, and the Lord brought a south wind upon the earth, all that day and all that night: the morning dawned, and the south wind brought up the locusts,
14 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.
and brought them up over all the land of Egypt. And they rested in very great abundance over all the borders of Egypt. Before them there were not such locusts, neither after them shall there be.
15 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.
And they covered the face of the earth, and the land was wasted, and they devoured all the herbage of the land, and all the fruit of the trees, which was left by the hail: there was no green thing left on the trees, nor on all the herbage of the field, in all the land of Egypt.
16 The king quickly summoned Aaron and Moses/me and said, “I have sinned against Yahweh, your god, and against you [two].
And Pharao hasted to call Moses and Aaron, saying, I have sinned before the Lord your God, and against you;
17 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.”
pardon therefore my sin yet this time, and pray to the Lord your God, and let him take away from me this death.
18 They/We left the king, and Moses/I prayed to Yahweh.
And Moses went forth from Pharao, and prayed to God.
19 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.
And the Lord brought in the opposite direction a strong wind from the sea, and took up the locusts and cast them into the Red Sea, and there was not one locust left in all the land of Egypt.
20 But Yahweh made the king stubborn [IDM] [again], and he did not let the Israeli people go.
And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharao, and he did not send away the children of Israel.
21 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].”
And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand to heaven, and let there be darkness over the land of Egypt—darkness that may be felt.
22 So Moses/I reached his/my hand toward the sky, and it became totally dark all over Egypt for three days [and nights].
And Moses stretched out his hand to heaven, and there was darkness very black, even a storm over all the land of Egypt three days.
23 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.
And for three days no man saw his brother, and no man rose up from his bed for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in all the places where they were.
24 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.”
And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, saying, Go, serve the Lord your God, only leave your sheep and your oxen, and let your store depart with you.
25 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.
And Moses said, Nay, but you shall give to us whole burnt offerings and sacrifices, which we will sacrifice to the Lord our God.
26 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.”
And our cattle shall go with us, and we will not leave a hoof behind, for of them we will take to serve the Lord our God: but we know not in what manner we shall serve the Lord our God, until we arrive there.
27 But Yahweh made the king [continue to be] stubborn [IDM], and he would not let [the Israeli] people go.
But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharao, and he would not let them go.
28 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!”
And Pharao says, Depart from me, beware of seeing my face again, for in what day you shall appear before me, you shall die.
29 Moses/I replied, “You are correct! You will never see me [SYN] again!”
And Moses says, You have said, I will not appear in your presence again.
