Exodus 8

1 And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao, and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Let my people go to sacrifice to me.

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'Yahweh says this: “Let my people go so that they may worship me.

2 But if thou wilt not let them go behold I will strike all thy coasts with frogs.

If you refuse to let them go, I will afflict all your country with frogs.

3 And the river shall bring forth an abundance of frogs: which shall come up, and enter into thy house, and thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and in the houses of thy servants, and to thy people, and into thy ovens, and into the remains of thy meats;

The river will swarm with frogs. They will come up and go into your house, your bedroom, and your bed. They will go into your servants' houses. They will go onto your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls.

4 And the frogs shall come in to thee and to thy people, and to all thy servants.

The frogs will attack you, your people, and all your servants.”'”

5 And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thy hand upon the streams and upon the rivers and the pools, and bring forth frogs upon the land of Egypt.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, 'Reach out with your hand and your staff over the rivers, the streams, and the pools, and bring the frogs up over the land of Egypt.'”

6 And Aaron stretched forth his hand upon the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.

Aaron reached out with his hand over Egypt's waters, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

7 And the magicians also by their enchantments did in like manner, and the brought forth frogs upon all the land of Egypt.

But the magicians did the same with their magic; they brought up frogs over the land of Egypt.

8 But Pharao called Moses and Aaron and said to them: Pray ye to the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.

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

9 And Moses said to Pharao: Set me a time when I shall pray for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the frogs may be driven away from thee and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people: and may remain only in the river.

Moses said to Pharaoh, “You can have the privilege of telling me when I should pray for you, your servants, and your people, so that the frogs may be removed from you and your houses and stay only in the river.”

10 And he answered: Tomorrow. But he said: I will do according to thy word; that thou mayst know that there is none like to the Lord our God.

Pharaoh said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “Let it be as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like Yahweh, our God.

11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people; and shall remain only in the river.

The frogs will go from you, your houses, your servants, and your people. They will stay only in the river.”

12 And Moses and Aaron went forth from Pharao: and Moses cried to the Lord for the promise, which he had made to Pharao concerning the frogs.

Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. Then Moses cried out to Yahweh concerning the frogs that he had brought on Pharaoh.

13 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses: and the frogs died out of the houses, and out of the villages, and out of the fields:

Yahweh did as Moses asked: The frogs died in the houses, courts, and fields.

14 And they gathered them together into immense heaps, and the land was corrupted.

The people gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank.

15 And Pharao seeing that rest was given, hardened his own heart, and did not hear them, as the Lord had commanded.

But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as Yahweh had said that he would do.

16 And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thy rod, and strike the dust of the earth: and may there be sciniphs in all the land of Egypt.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, 'Reach out with your staff and strike the dust on the ground, that it may become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.'”

17 And they did so. And Aaron stretched forth his hand, holding the rod: and he struck the dust of the earth, and there came sciniphs on men and on beasts: all the dust of the earth was turned into sciniphs through all the land of Egypt.

They did so: Aaron reached out with his hand and his staff. He struck the dust on the ground. Gnats came onto man and beast. All the dust on the ground became gnats throughout the whole land of Egypt.

18 And the magicians with their enchantments practiced in like manner, to bring forth sciniphs, and they could not and there were sciniphs as well on men as on beasts.

The magicians tried with their magic to produce gnats, but they could not. There were gnats on man and beast.

19 And the magicians said to Pharao This is the finger of God. And Pharao heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had commanded.

Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, so he refused to listen to them. It was just as Yahweh had said Pharaoh would do.

20 The Lord also said to Moses: Arise early, and stand before Pharao: for he will go forth to the waters: and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Let my people go to sacrifice to me.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and stand in front of Pharaoh as he goes out to the river. Say to him, 'Yahweh says this: “Let my people go so that they may worship me.

21 But if thou wilt not let them go, behold I will send in upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy houses all kind of flies: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with flies of divers kinds, and the whole land wherein they shall be.

But if you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you, your servants, and your people, and into your houses. The Egyptians' houses will be full of swarms of flies, and even the ground on which they stand will be full of flies.

22 And I will make the land of Gessen wherein my people is, wonderful in that lay, so that flies shall not be there: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.

But on that day I will treat the land of Goshen differently, the land in which my people are living, so that no swarms of flies will be there. This will happen so that you may know that I am Yahweh in the midst of this land.

23 And I will put a division between my people and thy people: tomorrow shall this sign be.

I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign of my power will take place tomorrow.”'”

24 And the Lord did so. And there came a very grievous swarm of flies into he houses of Pharao and of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt: and the land was corrupted by this kind of flies.

Yahweh did so, and thick swarms of flies came into Pharaoh's house and into his servants' houses. Throughout the whole land of Egypt, the land was ruined because of the swarms of flies.

25 And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Go, and sacrifice to your God in this land.

Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in our own land.”

26 And Moses said: It cannot be so: for we shall sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: now if we kill those things which the Egyptians worship, in their presence, they will stone us.

Moses said, “It is not right for us to do so, for the sacrifices we make to Yahweh our God are something disgusting to the Egyptians. If we make sacrifices right before their eyes that are disgusting to the Egyptians, will they not stone us?

27 We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness: and we will sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.

No, it is a three days' journey into the wilderness that we must make, in order to sacrifice to Yahweh our God, as he commands us.”

28 And Pharao said: I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness: but go no farther: pray for me.

Pharaoh said, “I will allow you to go and sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the wilderness. Only you must not go very far away. Pray for me.”

29 And Moses said: I will go out from thee, and will pray to the Lord: and the flies shall depart from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people tomorrow: but do not deceive any more, in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.

Moses said, “As soon as I go out from you, I will pray to Yahweh that the swarms of flies may leave you, Pharaoh, and your servants and people tomorrow. But you must not deal deceitfully any more by not letting our people go to sacrifice to Yahweh.”

30 So Moses went out from Pharao, and prayed to the Lord.

Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to Yahweh.

31 And he did according to his word: and he took away the flies from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people: there was not left so much as one.

Yahweh did as Moses asked; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. Not one remained.

32 And Pharao’s heart was hardened, so that neither this time would he let the people go.

But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.