Exodus 10
1 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,
And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, in order that I might display these my signs in the midst of them:
2 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].”
And in order that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, the wonders which I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have shown among them; and ye shall know now that I am the Lord.
3 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]
And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the Eternal, the God of the Hebrews, How long yet wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.
4 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.
For, if thou refusest to let my people go, behold, I will bring tomorrow locusts into thy boundary.
5 [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.
And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that one shall not be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which escaped, which hath been left unto you from the hail, and they shall eat off every tree which groweth for you out of the field:
6 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.
And thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians shall be full of them; such as neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day of their being upon the earth, until this day; and he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh.
7 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]
And the servants of Pharaoh said unto him, How long shall this man be unto us for a snare? let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?
8 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?”
And Moses was brought back with Aaron unto Pharaoh; and he said unto them, Go ye, serve the Lord your God; who all are they that shall go?
9 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.”
And Moses said, With our young and with our old will we go; with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we are to hold a feast unto the Lord.
10 [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].
And he said unto them, So be the Lord with you, as I will let you go, together with your little ones: look, surely your intentions are evil.
11 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].
Not so; go now ye men, and serve the Lord, for this you desire: and they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.
12 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.”
And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, and they shall come up over the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the earth, all that the hail hath left.
13 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.
And Moses stretched forth his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord urged an east wind over the land all that day, and all the night; when it was morning, the east wind bore along the locusts.
14 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.
And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the boundaries of Egypt; in very large masses; before them there were no such locusts as they, and after them there will not be any such.
15 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.
And they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the earth was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there was not left any green thing on the trees, or on the herbs of the field, throughout all the land of Egypt.
16 The king quickly summoned Aaron and Moses/me and said, “I have sinned against Yahweh, your god, and against you [two].
Then made Pharaoh haste to call for Moses and Aaron; and he said, I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you.
17 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.”
And now forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, that he may take away from me only this death.
18 They/We left the king, and Moses/I prayed to Yahweh.
And he went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the Lord.
19 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.
And the Lord turned a very strong west wind, which bore away the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea; there was not left one locust in all the boundary of Egypt.
20 But Yahweh made the king stubborn [IDM] [again], and he did not let the Israeli people go.
But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he did not let the children of Israel go.
21 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].”
And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand toward heaven, and there shall be darkness over the land of Egypt, and it shall be a darkness of the night.
22 So Moses/I reached his/my hand toward the sky, and it became totally dark all over Egypt for three days [and nights].
And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:
23 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.
They saw not one another, neither did they rise, any one from his place, for three days; but for all the children of Israel there was light in their dwellings.
24 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.”
And Pharaoh called for Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the Lord; only your flocks and your herds shall remain behind: also your little ones may go with you.
25 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.
And Moses said, Even thou also must give into our hand sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may sacrifice [them] unto the Eternal, our God.
26 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.”
And also our cattle must go with us, there shall not be left behind a single hoof, for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God; and we cannot know with what we must serve the Lord, until we come thither.
27 But Yahweh made the king [continue to be] stubborn [IDM], and he would not let [the Israeli] people go.
But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go.
28 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!”
And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee away from me; take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for on the day thou seest my face thou shalt die.
29 Moses/I replied, “You are correct! You will never see me [SYN] again!”
And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will not see thy face again any more.
