1
And YHWH says to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have declared his heart hard, and the heart of his servants, so that I set these signs of Mine in their midst,
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and so that you recount in the ears of your son, and of your son’s son, that which I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have set among them, and you have known that I [am] YHWH.”
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And Moses comes in—Aaron also—to Pharaoh, and they say to him, “Thus said YHWH, God of the Hebrews: Until when have you refused to be humbled at My presence? Send My people away, and they serve Me,
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for if you are refusing to send My people away, behold, tomorrow I am bringing in the locust into your border,
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and it has covered the eye of the land, and none is able to see the land, and it has eaten the remnant of that which is escaped, which is left to you from the hail, and it has eaten every tree which is springing out of the field for you;
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and they have filled your houses, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, which neither your fathers nor your father’s fathers have seen, since the day of their being on the ground to this day.” And he turns and goes out from Pharaoh.
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And the servants of Pharaoh say to him, “Until when does this [one] become a snare to us? Send the men away, and they serve their God YHWH; do you not yet know that Egypt has perished?”
8
And Moses is brought back—Aaron also—to Pharaoh, and he says to them, “Go, serve your God YHWH, but who—who [are] those going?”
9
And Moses says, “With our young ones, and with our aged ones, we go, with our sons, and with our daughters, with our flock, and our herd, we go, for we have a festival to YHWH.”
10
And he says to them, “Be it so, YHWH [is] with you when I send you and your infants away; see—for evil [is] before your faces.
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Not so! Go now, you who [are] men, and serve YHWH, for that you are seeking”; and [one] casts them out from the presence of Pharaoh.
12
And YHWH says to Moses, “Stretch out your hand against the land of Egypt for the locust, and it goes up against the land of Egypt, and eats every herb of the land—all that the hail has left.”
13
And Moses stretches out his rod against the land of Egypt, and YHWH has led an east wind over the land all that day, and all the night; the morning has been, and the east wind has lifted up the locust.
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And the locust goes up against all the land of Egypt, and rests in all the border of Egypt—very grievous: before it there has not been such a locust as it, and after it there is none such;
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and it covers the eye of all the land, and the land is darkened; and it eats every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail has left, and there has not been left any green thing in the trees, or in the herb of the field, in all the land of Egypt.
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And Pharaoh hurries to call for Moses and for Aaron and says, “I have sinned against your God YHWH, and against you,
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and now, please bear with my sin, only this time, and make supplication to your God YHWH, that He may turn aside from off me only this death.”
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And he goes out from Pharaoh, and makes supplication to YHWH,
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and YHWH turns a very strong sea wind, and it lifts up the locust, and blows it into the Red Sea—there has not been left one locust in all the border of Egypt;
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and YHWH strengthens the heart of Pharaoh, and he has not sent the sons of Israel away.
The Ninth Plague: Darkness
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And YHWH says to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the heavens, and there is darkness over the land of Egypt, and the darkness is felt.”
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And Moses stretches out his hand toward the heavens, and there is darkness—thick darkness in all the land of Egypt [for] three days;
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they have not seen one another, and none has risen from his place [for] three days; but there has been light for all the sons of Israel in their dwellings.
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And Pharaoh calls to Moses and says, “Go, serve YHWH, only your flock and your herd are stayed, your infants also go with you”;
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and Moses says, “You also give sacrifices and burnt-offerings in our hand, and we have prepared for our God YHWH;
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and also our livestock go with us—there is not left a hoof, for we take from it to serve our God YHWH; and we do not know how we serve YHWH until our going there.”
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And YHWH strengthens the heart of Pharaoh, and he has not been willing to send them away;
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and Pharaoh says to him, “Go from me, take heed to yourself, do not add to see my face, for in the day you see my face you die”;
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and Moses says, “You have spoken correctly, I do not add to see your face anymore.”
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