Exodus 10
1 Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants. I have done this to show these signs of my power among them.
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 I have also done this so that you may tell your children and grandchildren the things I have done, how I have harshly treated Egypt, and how I have given various signs of my power among them. In this way you will 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 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says this: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go so that they may worship 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 you refuse to let my people go, listen, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your land.
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 They will cover the surface of the ground so that no one will be able to see the earth. They will eat the remains of whatever escaped from the hail. They will also eat every tree that grows for you in the fields.
[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 They will fill your houses, those of all your servants, and those of all the Egyptians—something neither your father nor your grandfather ever saw, nothing ever seen since the day that they were on the earth to this present day.'” Then Moses left and went out from 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 Pharaoh's servants said to him, “How long will this man be a menace to us? Let the Israelites go so that they may worship Yahweh their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is destroyed?”
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 Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, who said to them, “Go worship Yahweh your God. But what people will go?”
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 Moses said, “We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and our daughters. We will go with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a festival for Yahweh.”
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 Pharaoh said to them, “May Yahweh indeed be with you, if I ever let you go and your little ones go. Look, you have some evil in mind.
[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 No! Go, just the men among you, and worship Yahweh, for that is what you want.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.
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 Yahweh said to Moses, “Reach out with your hand over the land of Egypt to the locusts, that they may attack the land of Egypt and eat every plant in it, everything that the hail has 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 Moses reached out with his staff over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh brought an east wind over the land all that day and night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts.
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 The locusts went through all the land of Egypt and infested all parts of it. Never before had there been such a swarm of locusts in the land, and nothing like this will come after 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 They covered the surface of the whole land so that it was darkened. They ate every plant in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Throughout all the land of Egypt, no living green plant remained, nor any tree or plant in the fields.
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 Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and 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 then, forgive my sin this time, and pray to Yahweh your God that he will take this death away from me.”
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 Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to Yahweh.
They/We left the king, and Moses/I prayed to Yahweh.
19 Yahweh brought a very strong west wind that picked up the locusts and drove them into the Sea of Reeds; not a single locust remained in all the territory 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 hardened Pharaoh's heart, and Pharaoh did not let the Israelites go.
But Yahweh made the king stubborn [IDM] [again], and he did not let the Israeli people go.
21 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Reach out with your hand toward the sky, so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness that may be felt.”
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 Moses reached out with his hand toward the sky, and there was a 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 No one could see anyone else; no one left his home for three days. However, all the Israelites had light in the place where they lived.
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 Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go worship Yahweh. Even your families may go with you, but your flocks and herds must remain behind.”
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 But Moses said, “You must also give us animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings so that we may sacrifice them 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 Our cattle must also go with us; not a hoof of them may be left behind, for we must take them to worship Yahweh our God. For we do not know with what we must worship Yahweh until we arrive there.”
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 But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go.
But Yahweh made the king [continue to be] stubborn [IDM], and he would not let [the Israeli] people go.
28 Pharaoh said to Moses, “Go from me! Be careful about one thing, that you do not see me again, for on the day you see my face, you will 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 Moses said, “You yourself have spoken. I will not see your face again.”
Moses/I replied, “You are correct! You will never see me [SYN] again!”
