Exodus 9:13-10:20

Good News Translation

Hail

¹³ The Lord then said to Moses, “Early tomorrow morning meet with the king and tell him that the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says, ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ¹⁴ This time I will punish not only your officials and your people, but I will punish you as well, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the world. ¹⁵ If I had raised my hand to strike you and your people with disease, you would have been completely destroyed. ^16 (A)But to show you my power I have let you live so that my fame might spread over the whole world. ¹⁷ Yet you are still arrogant and refuse to let my people go. ¹⁸ This time tomorrow I will cause a heavy hailstorm, such as Egypt has never known in all its history. ¹⁹ Now give orders for your livestock and everything else you have in the open to be put under shelter. Hail will fall on the people and animals left outside unprotected, and they will all die.’” ²⁰ Some of the king's officials were afraid because of what the Lord had said, and they brought their slaves and animals indoors for shelter. ²¹ Others, however, paid no attention to the Lord's warning and left their slaves and animals out in the open.

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Raise your hand toward the sky, and hail will fall over the whole land of Egypt—on the people, the animals, and all the plants in the fields.” ²³ So Moses raised his stick toward the sky, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning struck the ground. The Lord sent ^24 (B)a heavy hailstorm, with lightning flashing back and forth. It was the worst storm that Egypt had ever known in all its history. ²⁵ All over Egypt the hail struck down everything in the open, including all the people and all the animals. It beat down all the plants in the fields and broke all the trees. ²⁶ The region of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was the only place where there was no hail.

²⁷ The king sent for Moses and Aaron and said, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and my people and I are in the wrong. ²⁸ Pray to the Lord! We have had enough of this thunder and hail! I promise to let you go; you don't have to stay here any longer.”

²⁹ Moses said to him, “As soon as I go out of the city, I will lift up my hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord. ³⁰ But I know that you and your officials do not yet fear the Lord God.”

³¹ The flax and the barley were ruined, because the barley was ripe, and the flax was budding. ³² But none of the wheat was ruined, because it ripens later.

³³ Moses left the king, went out of the city, and lifted up his hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder, the hail, and the rain all stopped. ³⁴ When the king saw what had happened, he sinned again. He and his officials remained as stubborn as ever ³⁵ and, just as the Lord had foretold through Moses, the king would not let the Israelites go.

Locusts

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go and see the king. I have made him and his officials stubborn, in order that I may perform these miracles among them ² and in order that you may be able to tell your children and grandchildren how I made fools of the Egyptians when I performed the miracles. All of you will know that I am the Lord.”

³ So Moses and Aaron went to the king and said to him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says, ‘How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ⁴ If you keep on refusing, then I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. ⁵ There will be so many that they will completely cover the ground. They will eat everything that the hail did not destroy, even the trees that are left. ⁶ They will fill your palaces and the houses of all your officials and all your people. They will be worse than anything your ancestors ever saw.’” Then Moses turned and left.

⁷ The king's officials said to him, “How long is this man going to give us trouble? Let the Israelite men go, so that they can worship the Lord their God. Don't you realize that Egypt is ruined?”

⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to the king, and he said to them, “You may go and worship the Lord your God. But exactly who will go?”

⁹ Moses answered, “We will all go, including our children and our old people. We will take our sons and daughters, our sheep and goats, and our cattle, because we must hold a festival to honor the Lord.”

¹⁰ The king said, “I swear by the Lord that I will never let you take your women and children! It is clear that you are plotting to revolt. ¹¹ No! Only the men may go and worship the Lord if that is what you want.” With that, Moses and Aaron were driven out of the king's presence.

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Raise your hand over the land of Egypt to bring the locusts. They will come and eat everything that grows, everything that has survived the hail.” ¹³ So Moses raised his stick, and the Lord caused a wind from the east to blow on the land all that day and all that night. By morning it had brought the locusts. ^14 (C)They came in swarms and settled over the whole country. It was the largest swarm of locusts that had ever been seen or that ever would be seen again. ¹⁵ They covered the ground until it was black with them; they ate everything that the hail had left, including all the fruit on the trees. Not a green thing was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ Then the king hurriedly called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. ¹⁷ Now forgive my sin this one time and pray to the Lord your God to take away this fatal punishment from me.” ¹⁸ Moses left the king and prayed to the Lord. ¹⁹ And the Lord changed the east wind into a very strong west wind, which picked up the locusts and blew them into the Gulf of Suez.^[a] Not one locust was left in all of Egypt. ²⁰ But the Lord made the king stubborn, and he did not let the Israelites go.