Exodus 10:10-27

New American Standard Bible

¹⁰ Then he said to them, “So may the Lord be with you, when I let you and your little ones go! Watch out, for evil is ^[a]on your mind! ¹¹ Not so! Go now, but only the men among you, and serve the Lord, since ^[b]that is what you desire.” So ^(A)they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, “^(B)Reach out with your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come up on the land of Egypt and ^(C)eat every plant of the land, everything that the hail has left.” ¹³ So Moses reached out with his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord directed an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind ^[c]brought the ^(D)locusts. ^14 (E)The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled in all the territory of Egypt; they were very ^[d]numerous. There had never been so many ^[e]locusts, nor would there be so many ^[f]again. ¹⁵ For they covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was darkened; and they ^(F)ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Therefore nothing green was left on tree or plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt. ¹⁶ Then Pharaoh hurriedly ^(G)called for Moses and Aaron, and he said, “^(H)I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. ¹⁷ So now, please forgive my sin only this once, and ^(I)plead with the Lord your God, that He would only remove this death from me.” ¹⁸ Then ^(J)he left Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. ¹⁹ So the Lord shifted the wind to a very strong west wind, which picked up the locusts and drove them into the ^[g]Red Sea; not one locust was left in all the territory of Egypt. ²⁰ But ^(K)the Lord ^[h]hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go.

Darkness over the Land

²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “^(L)Reach out with your hand toward the sky, so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness ^(M)which may be felt.” ²² So Moses reached out with his hand toward the sky, and there was ^(N)thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. ²³ They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, ^(O)but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings. ²⁴ Then Pharaoh ^(P)called for Moses, and said, “Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be left behind. Even ^(Q)your little ones may go with you.” ²⁵ But Moses said, “You must also ^[i]let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, so that we may ^[j]sacrifice them to the Lord our God. ^26 (R)Therefore, our livestock too shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we shall take some of them to serve the Lord our God. And until we arrive there, we ourselves do not know with what we shall serve the Lord.” ²⁷ But ^(S)the Lord ^[k]hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go.