The Plagues

“‘The Lord says: This is the way you will know that I am the Lord. Look: I will take the staff in my hand and strike the water in the river, and it will turn into blood. The fish in the river will die. The river will start to stink, and the Egyptians will hate drinking water from it.’”

And the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and hold out your hand over all the waters of Egypt, its rivers, its streams, its pools and all its ponds, so that they turn to blood. There will be blood all through the land of Egypt, even in the jars of wood and of stone.’”

Moses and Aaron did what the Lord had commanded. While Pharaoh and his officials watched, he lifted the staff and struck the water in the river. All of it turned into blood. The fish in the river died. The river began to stink, and the Egyptians couldn’t drink from it. There was blood all through the land of Egypt.

But Egypt’s magicians did the same thing with their spells. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, just as the Lord had said. Pharaoh turned away and went into his palace. He didn’t give any of it a second thought.

All the Egyptians dug in the ground along the river to find water to drink, because they couldn’t drink the river’s water. Seven full days went by after the Lord struck the river.

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Hold out your staff over the rivers, the streams and the pools, and bring frogs up onto the land of Egypt.’” So Aaron held his hand out over the waters of Egypt. Frogs came up and covered the land. The magicians did the same thing with their spells and brought frogs up onto the land of Egypt too.

Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. “Pray to the Lord that he will take the frogs away from me and my people,” he said, “and I will let the people go, so they can sacrifice to the Lord.”

Moses said to Pharaoh, “I’ll give you the honor of choosing the time. When should I pray for you, your officials and your people? Then the frogs will be wiped out from your houses and from around you, and the only ones left will be in the river.”

“Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said.

“It will be as you say,” said Moses, “so you will know that no one is like the Lord our God. The frogs will be gone from you and your houses, from your officials and your people. The only ones left will be in the river.”

Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh. Moses called out to the Lord about the frogs that he had brought on Pharaoh. The Lord did as Moses asked, and the frogs died in the houses, the yards and the fields. People piled them up in heaps, and the land stank.

But when Pharaoh saw that the trouble had stopped, he hardened his heart. He didn’t listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

The magicians tried to make lice with their spells, but they couldn’t. The lice were on people and on animals.

“This is God’s finger,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as the Lord had said.

“‘But on that day I will set apart Goshen, the land where my people live. There won’t be any swarms of flies there, and so you will know that I, the Lord, am here on the earth. I will put a dividing line between my people and yours. This sign will happen tomorrow.’”

The Lord did it. Thick swarms of flies came into Pharaoh’s palace and into his officials’ houses. All over Egypt, the flies ruined the land.

Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. “Go and sacrifice to your God,” he said, “but do it inside this land.”

“It isn’t right to do that,” said Moses. “What we sacrifice to the Lord our God is something the Egyptians find disgusting. If we sacrifice what they hate right in front of them, won’t they throw stones at us to kill us? We will travel for three days into the wilderness, and there we will sacrifice to the Lord our God, the way he tells us to.”

“I will let you go,” said Pharaoh, “so you can sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness. Just don’t go very far away. And pray for me.”

“I am leaving you now,” said Moses, “and I will pray to the Lord to make the swarms of flies leave Pharaoh, his officials and his people tomorrow. But Pharaoh must stop tricking us and keeping the people from going to sacrifice to the Lord.”

Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. The Lord did just what Moses had asked. He took the swarms of flies away from Pharaoh, his officials and his people, and not one fly was left. But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time too, and he did not let the people go.

The Lord set a time. “Tomorrow,” he said, “the Lord will do this in the land.” He did it the very next day. All the livestock of Egypt died, but not one of the Israelites’ animals died.

Pharaoh sent people to look, and not a single one of the Israelites’ animals was dead. But Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn, and he didn’t let the people go.

So they took ashes from a furnace and stood in front of Pharaoh. Moses tossed them up toward the sky, and boils and blisters broke out on people and on animals.

The magicians couldn’t even stand in front of Moses because of the boils. They had boils too, like all the Egyptians.

And the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he didn’t listen to them, just as the Lord had told Moses.

“‘By now I could have reached out my hand and struck you and your people with sickness, and you would be gone from the earth. But this is why I have made you stand: to show you my power, and so that my name will be told all over the earth.

“‘You are still standing proudly against my people, and you won’t let them go. So look: tomorrow at about this time I will send down a very heavy hail, worse than any Egypt has ever had, from the day it began until now. Give the order now to bring all your livestock, and everything else you have in the fields, into shelter. The hail will come down on every person and animal still out in the field that hasn’t been brought home, and they will die.’”

Some of Pharaoh’s officials were afraid of what the Lord had said, and they hurried their servants and their animals into the houses. But anyone who paid no attention to the Lord’s word left his servants and his animals out in the fields.

The Lord said to Moses, “Hold out your hand toward the sky, so that hail falls on all the land of Egypt, on people, on animals, and on every plant in the fields.”

Moses held his staff up toward the sky. Then the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed to the ground. The Lord made hail rain down on the land of Egypt. The hail was very heavy, and lightning flashed in the middle of it. Egypt had never had hail like it in all the time since it became a nation.

All through Egypt the hail struck everything in the fields, people and animals alike. It struck every plant in the fields and broke every tree. But in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, no hail fell.

Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and told them, “I have sinned this time. The Lord is right, and my people and I are wicked. Pray to the Lord, because we have had enough of this mighty thunder and hail. I will let you go. You won’t have to stay any longer.”

Moses told him, “As soon as I am out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord in prayer. The thunder will stop, and there won’t be any more hail. That way you will know that the earth is the Lord’s. As for you and your officials, though, I know you don’t fear the Lord God yet.”

The flax and the barley were struck down, because the barley had ripened and the flax was in bloom. But the wheat and the spelt, a kind of wheat, weren’t struck, because they hadn’t grown yet.

Moses went out of the city, away from Pharaoh, and spread out his hands to the Lord. The thunder and the hail ended, and the rain stopped pouring down on the land.

When Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail and the thunder had ended, he sinned even more. He hardened his heart, and so did his officials. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t let the Israelites go. It happened just as the Lord had said through Moses.

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says this,” they told him: “‘How long will you be too proud to give in to me? Let my people go, so they can serve me. If you refuse to let them go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country.

“‘They will cover the ground so that no one can see it. They will eat whatever the hail didn’t destroy, all that you have left, and every tree growing in your fields. Your houses will be full of them, and so will the houses of all your officials and all the Egyptians. Your ancestors never saw anything like it, from the day they came into the world until today.’” Then Moses turned and walked out.

“How long will this man be a trap for us?” Pharaoh’s officials asked him. “Let the men go, so they can serve the Lord their God. Don’t you see yet that Egypt is destroyed?”

Then Moses and Aaron were brought to Pharaoh again. “Go and serve the Lord your God,” he told them. “But who exactly will be going?”

“We will go with our young people and our old people,” said Moses. “We will take our sons and daughters, our flocks and herds, because we must hold a feast for the Lord.”

Pharaoh said to them, “The Lord be with you, then, if I ever let you go with your little ones!” he said. “Look, evil is right in front of you. No! You men go and serve the Lord, since that is what you want.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven away from Pharaoh.

The Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand over the land of Egypt, so the locusts will come up onto it. They will eat every plant growing there, everything the hail left.”

Moses held out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind on the land. It blew all that day and all night, and when morning came, the east wind had carried in the locusts. The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled everywhere inside its borders. It was a terrible swarm. There had never been locusts like these before, and there never will be any like them again.

They covered the whole land, so that the land grew dark. They ate every plant in the land, and all the fruit on the trees, whatever the hail had left. Nothing green was left anywhere in Egypt, not on a tree and not on a plant in the fields.

Pharaoh hurried to call Moses and Aaron. He said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now please forgive my sin one more time, and pray to the Lord your God that he will take this death away from me.”

Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. The Lord sent a very strong wind from the west. It picked the locusts up and carried them off into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left anywhere in Egypt.

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he didn’t let the Israelites go.

Moses held out his hand toward the sky, and thick darkness covered all of Egypt for three days. People couldn’t see each other, and for three days nobody got up from where they were. But every Israelite home had light.

Pharaoh called for Moses. “Go, serve the Lord,” he said. “But your flocks and your herds must stay behind. Your little ones can go with you too.”

Moses said, “You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings, so that we can offer them to the Lord our God. Our animals will go with us too. Not a hoof will be left behind. We will need some of them for serving the Lord our God. And we won’t know what we need to serve him with until we get there.”

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he wouldn’t let them go. “Get away from me!” Pharaoh said to Moses. “Be careful never to see my face again! On the day you see it, you will die!”

“As you say,” said Moses. “I will never see your face again.”