Exodus 10

1 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh. I have made his heart hard, and his servants’ hearts, so that these signs may come on them one after another, 2 and so that you may tell your children, and your children’s children, what fools I have made of the Egyptians, and the signs I did among them — and you will know that I am the Lord.” [a] 3 So Moses and Aaron went in before Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to be humbled before me? Send my people out, so that they may serve me. 4 And if you refuse to send my people out, look: tomorrow at this hour I am bringing a great swarm of locusts on your whole territory. 5 They will cover the face of the ground, and you will not be able to see the ground; and they will eat up everything left over that the hail left you, and they will eat every tree that grows for you in the field. 6 And your houses will be filled, and the houses of your servants, and every house in all the land of the Egyptians — a thing your fathers never saw, nor your fathers’ fathers, from the day they came into the world until this day.” And Moses turned and went out from Pharaoh. 7 And Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this go on being a snare to us? Send the people away, so they can serve their God. Do you still not see that Egypt is destroyed?” 8 So they brought Moses and Aaron back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve your God. But who exactly are the ones going?” 9 And Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and daughters and our sheep and our oxen — for it is a feast of the Lord our God.” 10 And he said to them, “So be it — the Lord be with you! Am I sending you out with your households as well? Look — you have wickedness in mind. [b] 11 No. Let the men go and serve God, since that is what you are asking for.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence. 12 And the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, and let the locusts come up over the land and eat every green thing of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail left.” 13 So Moses lifted his staff toward the sky, and the Lord brought a south wind on the land all that day and all that night. When morning came, the south wind had brought up the locusts, 14 and it carried them over all the land of Egypt and settled them on the whole territory of Egypt in enormous numbers. There had never been such a swarm of locusts before it, and there will never be such again. 15 And they covered the face of the ground, and the land was ruined. They ate every green thing of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left; nothing green was left on the trees or on any plant in the field in all the land of Egypt. 16 Pharaoh hurried to call Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned before the Lord your God and against you. 17 So bear with my sin this once more, and pray to the Lord your God, and let him take this death away from me.” 18 And Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to God. 19 And the Lord turned the wind about, a strong wind off the sea, and it picked up the locusts and threw them into the Red Sea; not one locust was left in all the land of Egypt. 20 And the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not send the children of Israel out.

21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, and let there be darkness over the land of Egypt — darkness that can be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was darkness, gloom, storm over all the land of Egypt for three days. 23 No one saw his brother for three days, and no one got up from where he lay for three days. But for all the children of Israel there was light in everything they were doing. 24 And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, serve the Lord your God. Only leave your sheep and your oxen behind; your households may go with you.” 25 And Moses said, “No — you yourself will give us whole burnt offerings and sacrifices to offer to the Lord our God. 26 And our cattle will go with us. We will not leave behind so much as a hoof, because we have to take from them to serve the Lord our God — and we do not know what we will serve the Lord our God with until we get there.” 27 And the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to send them out. 28 And Pharaoh said, “Get away from me. Take care never to see my face again — on the day you appear before me, you die.” 29 And Moses said, “You have said it. I will not appear before you again.”