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 the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharao, and you shall say to him, These things says the Lord: send forth my people, that they may serve me.

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 send them forth, behold, I afflict all your borders with frogs:

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.

and the river shall teem with frogs, and they shall go up and enter into your houses, and into your bed-chambers, and upon your beds, and upon the houses of your servants, and of your people and on your dough, and on your ovens.

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

And upon you, and upon your servants, and upon your people, shall the frogs come up.

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 your brother, Stretch forth with the hand your rod over the rivers, and over the canals, and over the pools, and bring up the frogs.

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 Aaron stretched forth his hand over the waters of Egypt, and brought up the frogs: and the frog was brought up, and covered the land of Egypt.

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 charmers of the Egyptians also did likewise with their sorceries, and brought up the frogs on 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.”

And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said, Pray for me to the Lord, and let him take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will send them away, and they shall sacrifice 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 to Pharao, Appoint me [a time] when I shall pray for you, and for your servants, and for your people, to cause the frogs to disappear from you, and from your people, and from your houses, only in the river shall they be left behind.

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, On the morrow: he said therefore, As you has said; that you may know, that there is no other [God] but the Lord.

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 shall be removed away from you, and from your houses and from the villages, and from your servants, and from your people, only in the river they shall be left.

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].

And Moses and Aaron went forth from Pharao, and Moses cried to the Lord concerning the restriction of the frogs, as Pharao appointed him.

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 the frogs died out of the houses, and out of the villages, and out of the fields.

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

And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank.

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.

And when Pharao saw that there was relief, his heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord spoke.

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, Stretch forth your rod with your hand and strike the dust of the earth; and there shall be lice both upon man, and upon quadrupeds, and in 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.

So Aaron stretched out his rod with his hand, and struck the dust of the earth; and the lice were on men and on quadrupeds, and in all the dust of the earth there were lice.

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 charmers also did so with their sorceries, to bring forth the louse, and they could not. And the lice were both on the men and on the quadrupeds.

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.

So the charmers said to Pharao, This is the finger of God. But the heart of Pharao was hardened, and he listened not to them, as the Lord 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, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharao: and behold, he will go forth to the water, and you shall say to him, These things says the Lord: Send away my people, that they may serve me in the wilderness.

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.

And if you will not let my people go, behold, I send upon you, and upon your servants, and upon your people, and upon your houses, the dog-fly; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with the dog-fly, even throughout the land upon which they are.

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 I will distinguish marvellously in that day the land of Gesem, on which my people dwell, in which the dog-fly shall not be: that you may know that I am the Lord the God of 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 difference between my people and your people, and on the morrow shall this be on the land. And the Lord did thus.

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 dog-fly came in abundance into the houses of Pharao, and into the houses of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt; and the land was destroyed by the dog-fly.

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 Pharao called Moses and Aaron, saying, Go and sacrifice to the Lord your God 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 can’t be so, for we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God the abominations of the Egyptians; for if we sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians before them, we shall 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.”

We will go a journey of three days into the wilderness, and we will sacrifice to the Lord our God, as the Lord said to us.

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!”

And Pharao said, I [will] let you go, and do you sacrifice to your God in the wilderness, but do not go very far away: pray then for me to the Lord.

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, I then will go forth from you and pray to God, and the dog-fly shall depart both from your servants, and from your people to-morrow. Do not you, Pharao, deceive again, so as not to send the people away to do sacrifice to the Lord.

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

And Moses went out from Pharao, and prayed to God.

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 removed the dog-fly from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people, and there was not one left.

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

And Pharao hardened his heart, even on this occasion, and he would not send the people away.