Exodus 8

1 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].

And this is what the Lord said to Moses: Go to Pharaoh and say to him, The Lord says, Let my people go so that they may give me worship.

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

And if you will not let them go, see, I will send frogs into every part of your land:

3 [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.

The Nile will be full of frogs, and they will come up into your house and into your bedrooms and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and into your bread-basins.

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

The frogs will come up over you and your people and all your servants.

5 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.’”

And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Let the rod in your hand be stretched out over the streams and the waterways and the pools, causing frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.

6 [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.

And when Aaron put out his hand over the waters of Egypt, the frogs came up and all the land of Egypt was covered with them.

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

And the wonder-workers did the same with their secret arts, making frogs come up over the land of Egypt.

8 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.”

Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said, Make prayer to the Lord that he will take away these frogs from me and my people; and I will let the people go and make their offering to the Lord.

9 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.”

And Moses said, I will let you have the honour of saying when I am to make prayer for you and your servants and your people, that the frogs may be sent away from you and your houses, and be only in the Nile.

10 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.

And he said, By tomorrow. And he said, Let it be as you say: so that you may see that there is no other like the Lord our God.

11 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].”

And the frogs will be gone from you and from your houses and from your servants and from your people and will be only in the Nile.

12 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].

Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses made prayer to the Lord about the frogs which he had sent on Pharaoh.

13 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.

And the Lord did as Moses said; and there was an end of all the frogs in the houses and in the open spaces and in the fields.

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

And they put them together in masses, and a bad smell went up from the land.

15 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.

But when Pharaoh saw that there was peace for a time, he made his heart hard and did not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.

16 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.”

And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Let your rod be stretched out over the dust of the earth so that it may become insects through all the land of Egypt.

17 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.

And they did so; and Aaron, stretching out the rod in his hand, gave a touch to the dust of the earth, and insects came on man and on beast; all the dust of the earth was changed into insects through all the land of Egypt.

18 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.

And the wonder-workers with their secret arts, attempting to make insects, were unable to do so: and there were insects on man and on beast.

19 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.

Then the wonder-workers said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: but Pharaoh's heart was hard, and he did not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.

20 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].

And the Lord said to Moses, Get up early in the morning and take your place before Pharaoh when he comes out to the water; and say to him, This is what the Lord says: Let my people go to give me worship.

21 [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.

For if you do not let my people go, see, I will send clouds of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and into their houses; and the houses of the Egyptians and the land where they are will be full of flies.

22 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.

And at that time I will make a division between your land and the land of Goshen where my people are, and no flies will be there; so that you may see that I am the Lord over all the earth.

23 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!”’”

And I will put a division between my people and your people; tomorrow this sign will be seen.

24 [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.

And the Lord did so; and great clouds of flies came into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses, and all the land of Egypt was made waste because of the flies.

25 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.”

And Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said, Go and make your offering to your God here in the land.

26 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]!

And Moses said, It is not right to do so; for we make our offerings of that to which the Egyptians give worship; and if we do so before their eyes, certainly we will be stoned.

27 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.”

But we will go three days' journey into the waste land and make an offering to the Lord our God as he may give us orders.

28 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!”

Then Pharaoh said, I will let you go to make an offering to the Lord your God in the waste land; but do not go very far away, and make prayer for me.

29 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!”

And Moses said, When I go out from you I will make prayer to the Lord that the cloud of flies may go away from Pharaoh and from his people and from his servants tomorrow: only let Pharaoh no longer by deceit keep back the people from making their offering to the Lord.

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

Then Moses went out from Pharaoh and made prayer to the Lord.

31 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.

And the Lord did as Moses said, and took away the cloud of flies from Pharaoh and from his servants and from his people; not one was to be seen.

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

But again Pharaoh made his heart hard and did not let the people go.