< Exodus 11 >

1 Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “I will cause one more disaster to strike the king of Egypt and all his people [MTY]. After that, he will let you leave. In fact, he will expel you all.
The Lord told Moses, “There's one last plague I will bring down on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that he will let you go, but when he does, he'll expel every one of you from the country.
2 So now speak to all the [Israeli] people. Tell them to ask all their [Egyptian] neighbors, both men and women, to give them some silver and gold jewelry.”
Now go and tell the Israelites, both men and women, to ask their Egyptian neighbors for silver and gold objects.”
3 Yahweh made the Egyptians highly respect the Israeli people. In particular, the Egyptian officials and all [the rest of] the people considered Moses/me to be a very great man.
The Lord made the Egyptians look favorably on the Israelites. In fact, Moses himself was highly respected in Egypt by both Pharaoh's officials and the ordinary people.
4 Then Moses/I [went to the king and] said, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘About midnight [tonight] I will go throughout Egypt,
Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Around midnight I will go through the whole of Egypt.
5 and I will cause all the firstborn/oldest [sons] to die. That will include your oldest son, the oldest sons of the slave women who grind grain, [and the oldest sons of everyone else]. I will also kill the oldest males of the Egyptians’ livestock.
Every firstborn son in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the servant girl working with a handmill, as well as all the firstborn of the cattle.
6 When that happens, people all over Egypt will wail loudly. They have never wailed like that before, and they will never wail like that again.
There will be loud cries of mourning all over Egypt, such as have never been before, and will never be again.
7 But among the Israeli people [it will be so quiet that] not even a dog will bark! Then you will know for sure that I, Yahweh, distinguish [how I act toward] the Egyptians and [how I act toward] the Israeli people.
But among all the Israelites there won't even be the sound of a dog barking at them or their animals. That way you will know that the Lord distinguishes between Egypt and Israel.’
8 Then all these officials of yours will come and bow down before me and will say, “Please get out [of Egypt], you and all the Israeli people!”’ After that, I will leave Egypt!” [After Moses/I said that], he/I very angrily left the king.
All your officials will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Leave, and take everyone who follows you with you!’ After that I will leave.” Moses was very angry, and left Pharaoh.
9 Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “The king will not pay any attention to what you say. The result will be that I will perform more plagues in the land of Egypt.”
The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh is refusing to listen to you so I can do even more miracles in Egypt.”
10 Aaron and Moses/I performed all these miracles in front of the king, but Yahweh made the king stubborn, and he did not let the Israeli people leave his country.
Moses and Aaron did these miracles before Pharaoh, but the Lord gave Pharaoh a stubborn attitude, and he wouldn't let the Israelites leave his country.

< Exodus 11 >