< Exodus 11 >

1 Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “I will cause one more disaster to strike the king of Egypt and all his people [MTY]. After that, he will let you leave. In fact, he will expel you all.
And the Lord said to Moses, I will yet bring one plague upon Pharao and upon Egypt, and after that he will send you forth thence; and whenever he sends you forth with every thing, he will indeed drive you out.
2 So now speak to all the [Israeli] people. Tell them to ask all their [Egyptian] neighbors, both men and women, to give them some silver and gold jewelry.”
Speak therefore secretly in the ears of the people, and let every one ask of his neighbor jewels of silver and gold, and raiment.
3 Yahweh made the Egyptians highly respect the Israeli people. In particular, the Egyptian officials and all [the rest of] the people considered Moses/me to be a very great man.
And the Lord gave his people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and they lent to them; and the man Moses was very great before the Egyptians, and before Pharao, and before his servants.
4 Then Moses/I [went to the king and] said, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘About midnight [tonight] I will go throughout Egypt,
And Moses said, These things says the Lord, About midnight I go forth into the midst of Egypt.
5 and I will cause all the firstborn/oldest [sons] to die. That will include your oldest son, the oldest sons of the slave women who grind grain, [and the oldest sons of everyone else]. I will also kill the oldest males of the Egyptians’ livestock.
And every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharao that sits on the throne, even to the firstborn of the woman-servant that is by the mill, and to the firstborn of all cattle.
6 When that happens, people all over Egypt will wail loudly. They have never wailed like that before, and they will never wail like that again.
And there shall be a great cry through all the land of Egypt, such as has not been, and such shall not be repeated any more.
7 But among the Israeli people [it will be so quiet that] not even a dog will bark! Then you will know for sure that I, Yahweh, distinguish [how I act toward] the Egyptians and [how I act toward] the Israeli people.
But among all the children of Israel shall not a dog snarl with his tongue, either at man or beast; that you may know how wide a distinction the Lord will make between the Egyptians and Israel.
8 Then all these officials of yours will come and bow down before me and will say, “Please get out [of Egypt], you and all the Israeli people!”’ After that, I will leave Egypt!” [After Moses/I said that], he/I very angrily left the king.
And all these your servants shall come down to me, and do me reverence, saying, Go forth, you and all the people over whom you preside, and afterwards I will go forth.
9 Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “The king will not pay any attention to what you say. The result will be that I will perform more plagues in the land of Egypt.”
And Moses went forth from Pharao with wrath. And the Lord said to Moses, Pharao will not listen to you, that I may greatly multiply my signs and wonders in the land [of] Egypt.
10 Aaron and Moses/I performed all these miracles in front of the king, but Yahweh made the king stubborn, and he did not let the Israeli people leave his country.
And Moses and Aaron wrought all these signs and wonders in the land [of] Egypt before Pharao; and the Lord hardened the heart of Pharao, and he did not listen to send forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

< Exodus 11 >