Exodus 10:21-11:10

Good News Translation

Darkness

²¹^(A)The Lord then said to Moses, “Raise your hand toward the sky, and a darkness thick enough to be felt will cover the land of Egypt.” ²²^(B)Moses raised his hand toward the sky, and there was total darkness throughout Egypt for three days. ²³The Egyptians could not see each other, and no one left his house during that time. But the Israelites had light where they were living.

²⁴The king called Moses and said, “You may go and worship the Lord; even your women and children may go with you. But your sheep, goats, and cattle must stay here.”

²⁵Moses answered, “Then you would have to provide us with animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings to offer to the Lord our God. ²⁶No, we will take our animals with us; not one will be left behind. We ourselves must select the animals with which to worship the Lord our God. And until we get there, we will not know what animals to sacrifice to him.”

²⁷The Lord made the king stubborn, and he would not let them go. ²⁸He said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Don't let me ever see you again! On the day I do, you will die!”

²⁹“You are right,” Moses answered. “You will never see me again.”

Moses Announces the Death of the First-Born

11 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will send only one more punishment on the king of Egypt and his people. After that he will let you leave. In fact, he will drive all of you out of here. ²Now speak to the people of Israel and tell all of them to ask their neighbors for gold and silver jewelry.” ³The Lord made the Egyptians respect the Israelites. Indeed, the officials and all the people considered Moses to be a very great man.

⁴Moses then said to the king, “The Lord says, ‘At about midnight I will go through Egypt, ⁵and every first-born son in Egypt will die, from the king's son, who is heir to the throne, to the son of the slave woman who grinds grain. The first-born of all the cattle will die also. ⁶There will be loud crying all over Egypt, such as there has never been before or ever will be again. ⁷But not even a dog will bark at the Israelites or their animals. Then you will know that I, the Lord, make a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites.’” ⁸Moses concluded by saying, “All your officials will come to me and bow down before me, and they will beg me to take all my people and go away. After that, I will leave.” Then in great anger Moses left the king.

⁹The Lord had said to Moses, “The king will continue to refuse to listen to you, in order that I may do more of my miracles in Egypt.” ¹⁰Moses and Aaron performed all these miracles before the king, but the Lord made him stubborn, and he would not let the Israelites leave his country.