Exodus 10

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

1 # Ex 4.21; 7.14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his officials, in order that I may show these signs of mine among them 2#Ex 7.5, 17; 12.26, 27; 13.8, 14, 15; Deut 4.9; Ps 44.1and that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I have made fools of the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them—so that you may know that I am the Lord.”

3 # Ex 4.23; Jas 4.10; 1 Pet 5.6 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may serve me. 4#Rev 9.3For if you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country. 5#Ex 9.32; Joel 1.4; 2.25They shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They shall devour the last remnant left you after the hail, and they shall devour every tree of yours that grows in the field. 6#Ex 8.3, 21They shall fill your houses and the houses of all your officials and of all the Egyptians—something that neither your parents nor your grandparents have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

7 # Ex 7.5; 8.19; 12.33 Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long shall this fellow be a snare to us? Send the people away, so that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?” 8#Ex 8.8, 25So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God! But which ones are to go?” 9#v 26; Ex 5.1; 12.37, 38Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; we will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, because we have the Lord’s festival to celebrate.” 10He said to them, “The Lord indeed will be with you, if ever I let your little ones go with you! Plainly, you have some evil purpose in mind. 11#v 28No, never! Your men may go and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

12 # vv 4, 5 ; Eccl 7.19Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may come upon it and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.” 13So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts. 14#Ps 78.46; 105.34; Joel 2.1–11The locusts came upon all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before nor ever shall be again. 15#v 5; Ps 105.35They covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was black, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on the trees or on the plants in the fields, in all the land of Egypt. 16#Ex 9.27Pharaoh hurriedly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. 17#Ex 8.8, 29Do forgive my sin this once, and pray to the Lord your God that at the least he remove this deadly thing from me.” 18So he went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. 19The Lord changed the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea;#10.19 Or Sea of Reeds not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. 20#Ex 4.21; 11.10But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

21 # Deut 28.29 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.” 22#Ps 105.28So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was dense darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. 23People could not see one another, and for three days they could not move from where they were, but all the Israelites had light where they lived. 24#vv 8, 10Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord. Only your flocks and your herds shall remain behind. Even your little ones may go with you.” 25But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings to sacrifice to the Lord our God. 26#v 9Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must choose some of them to serve the Lord our God, and we will not know what to use to serve the Lord until we arrive there.” 27#v 20But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go. 28#v 11Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Take care that you do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.” 29#Heb 11.27Moses said, “Just as you say! I will never see your face again.”

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Exodus 10: NRSVUE

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