Study Desk

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews: "Let My people go, so that they may serve Me.

"But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing that belongs to the Israelites will die."'"

So they took soot from the kiln, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses threw it toward the sky, and it became boils erupting in sores on man and animal.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, "Let My people go, so that they may serve Me.

"For this time I will send all My plagues on you [in full force,] and on your servants and on your people, so that you may know [without any doubt] and acknowledge that there is no one like Me in all the earth.

Now the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand [with your staff] toward the sky, so that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and on animal and on all the vegetation of the field, throughout the land of Egypt."

So there was hail, and lightning (fireballs) flashing intermittently in the midst of the extremely heavy hail, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

Moses said to him, "As soon as I leave the city, I will stretch out my hands to the LORD; the thunder will cease and there will be no more hail, so that you may know [without any doubt] and acknowledge that the earth is the LORD'S.

So Moses left the city and Pharaoh, and stretched out his hands to the LORD; then the thunder and hail ceased, and rain no longer poured on the earth.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants [making them determined and unresponsive], so that I may exhibit My signs [of divine power] among them,

and that you may recount and explain in the hearing of your son, and your grandson, what I have done [repeatedly] to make a mockery of the Egyptians—My signs [of divine power] which I have done among them—so that you may know [without any doubt] and recognize [clearly] that I am the LORD."

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may serve Me.

'They shall cover the [visible] surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the ground, and they will eat the rest of what has remained—that is, the vegetation left after the hail—and they will eat every one of your trees that grows in the field;

Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long shall this man be a trap to us? Let the men go, so that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not realize that Egypt is destroyed?"

So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, "Go, serve the LORD your God! Who specifically are the ones that are going?"

"No! Go now, you who are men, [without your families] and serve the LORD, if that is what you want." So Moses and Aaron were driven from Pharaoh's presence.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come up on the land of Egypt and eat all the plants of the land, all that the hail has left."

So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; when it was morning, the east wind had brought the [swarms of] locusts.

For they covered the [visible] surface of the land, so that the ground was darkened; and they ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. There remained not a green thing on the trees or the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.

"Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once [more], and pray and entreat the LORD your God, so that He will remove this [plague of] death from me."