The Locusts

10 The Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. I have made him and his officials stubborn. I did this so I could show them my powerful miracles. ²I also did this so you could tell your children and your grandchildren about the miracles and other wonderful things that I have done in Egypt. Then all of you will know that I am the Lord.” ³So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They told him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrew people, says, ‘How long will you refuse to obey me? Let my people go to worship me! ⁴If you refuse to let my people go, then tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country. ⁵The locusts will cover the land. There will be so many locusts that you won’t be able to see the ground. Anything that was left from the hailstorm will be eaten by the locusts. The locusts will eat all the leaves from every tree in the field. ⁶The locusts will fill all your houses, and all your officials’ houses, and all the houses in Egypt. There will be more locusts than your fathers or your grandfathers ever saw. There will be more locusts than there have ever been since people began living in Egypt.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh. ⁷Then the officials asked Pharaoh, “How long will we be trapped by these people. Let the men go to worship the Lord their God. If you don’t let them go, then before you know it, Egypt will be destroyed!” ⁸So Pharaoh told his officials to bring Moses and Aaron back to him. Pharaoh said to them, “Go and worship the Lord your God. But tell me, exactly who is going?” ⁹Moses answered, “All of our people, young and old, will go. And we will take our sons and daughters, and our sheep and cattle with us. We will all go because the Lord’s feast is for all of us.” ¹⁰Pharaoh said to them, “The Lord really will have to be with you before I let you and all of your children leave Egypt. Look, you are planning something bad. ¹¹The men can go worship the Lord. That is what you asked for in the beginning. But all of your people can’t go.” Then Pharaoh sent Moses and Aaron away. ¹²The Lord told Moses, “Raise your arm over the land of Egypt and the locusts will come! The locusts will spread all over the land of Egypt. The locusts will eat all the plants that the hail did not destroy.” ¹³So Moses raised his walking stick over the land of Egypt, and the Lord caused a strong wind to blow from the east. The wind blew all that day and night. When morning came, the wind had brought the locusts to the land of Egypt. ¹⁴The locusts flew into the country of Egypt and landed on the ground. There were more locusts than there had ever been in Egypt. And there will never again be that many locusts there. ¹⁵The locusts covered the ground, and the whole country became dark. The locusts ate every plant on the ground and all of the fruit in the trees that the hail had not destroyed. There weren’t any leaves left on any of the trees or plants anywhere in Egypt. ¹⁶Pharaoh quickly called for Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. ¹⁷Now, forgive me for my sins this time. Ask the Lord to remove this ‘death’ (locusts) from me.” ¹⁸Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. ¹⁹So the Lord changed the wind. The Lord made a very strong wind blow from the west, and it blew the locusts out of Egypt and into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left in Egypt! ²⁰But the Lord caused Pharaoh to be stubborn again. And Pharaoh did not let the people of Israel go.

The Darkness

²¹Then the Lord told Moses, “Raise your arm into the air and darkness will cover Egypt. It will be so dark you can feel it!” ²²So Moses raised his arm into the air and a cloud of darkness covered Egypt. The darkness stayed in Egypt for three days. ²³None of the people could see each other. And no one got up to go any place for three days. But there was light in all the places where the people of Israel lived. ²⁴Again Pharaoh called for Moses. Pharaoh said, “Go and worship the Lord! You can take your children with you. But you must leave your sheep and cattle here.” ²⁵Moses said, “{Not only will we take our sheep and cattle with us, but when we leave,} even you will give us offerings and sacrifices* for us to use in worshiping the Lord our God! ²⁶Yes, we will take our animals with us to worship the Lord. Not one hoof* will be left behind. We don’t know yet exactly what we will need to worship the Lord. We will learn that only when we get to the place we are going. So we must take all of these things with us.” ²⁷The Lord made Pharaoh stubborn again. So Pharaoh refused to let them go. ²⁸Then Pharaoh told Moses, “Get out of here! I don’t want you to come here again! The next time you come to see me, you will die!” ²⁹Then Moses told Pharaoh, “You are right about one thing. I won’t come to see you again!”

sacrifice(s) A gift to God. Usually it was a special animal that was killed and burned on an altar. hoof The hard part of the foot of certain animals.

The Death of the Firstborn

11 Then the Lord told Moses, “I have one more disaster to bring against Pharaoh and Egypt. After this, he will send you out of Egypt. In fact, he will force you to leave this country. ²You must give this message to the people of Israel: ‘Men and women, you must ask your neighbors to give you things made of silver and gold. ³The Lord will cause the Egyptians to be kind to you. The Egyptian people, even Pharaoh’s own officials, already consider Moses to be a great man.’” ⁴Moses said {to the people}, “The Lord says, ‘At midnight tonight, I will go through Egypt, ⁵and every firstborn* son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, to the firstborn son of the slave girl grinding grain. Even the firstborn animals will die. ⁶The crying in Egypt will be worse than at any time in the past. And it will be worse than it will ever be in the future. ⁷But none of the people of Israel will be hurt—not even a dog will bark at them. None of the people of Israel or any of their animals will be hurt. In this way, you will know that I have treated Israel differently from Egypt. ⁸Then all of these slaves of yours (the Egyptians) will bow down and worship me. They will say, “Leave and take all your people with you.” Then in anger, I will leave Pharaoh.’” ⁹Then the Lord told Moses, “Pharaoh has not listened to you. Why? So that I could show my great power in Egypt.” ¹⁰That is why Moses and Aaron did all these great miracles in front of Pharaoh. And that is why the Lord made Pharaoh so stubborn that he would not let the people of Israel leave his country.

firstborn The first child born into a family. The firstborn son was very important in ancient times.

Passover

12 While Moses and Aaron were still in Egypt, the Lord spoke to them. The Lord said, ²“This month* will be the first month of the year for you. ³This command is for the whole community of Israel: On the tenth day of this month each person must get one lamb for the people in his house. ⁴If there are not enough people in his house to eat a whole lamb, then he should invite some of his neighbors to share the meal. There must be enough lamb for everyone to eat. ⁵The lamb must be a one-year-old male, and it must be completely healthy. This animal can be either a young sheep or a young goat. ⁶You should watch over the animal until the 14th day of the month. On that day, all the people of the community of Israel must kill these animals at twilight.* ⁷You must collect the blood from these animals. Put the blood on the top and sides of the door frames of the houses where the people eat this meal. ⁸“On this night, you must roast the lamb and eat all of the meat. You must also eat bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. ⁹You must not boil the lamb in water. You must roast the whole lamb over a fire. The lamb must still have its head, legs, and inner parts. ¹⁰You must eat all of the meat that night. If any of the meat is left until morning, then you must burn that meat in the fire. ¹¹“When you eat the meal, you must be fully dressed like you are going on a journey. You must have your shoes on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. You must eat in a hurry. Why? Because this is the Lord’s Passover* —{the time when the Lord protected his people and led them quickly out of Egypt}. ¹²“Tonight I will go through Egypt and kill every firstborn* man and animal in Egypt. In this way, I will judge all the gods of Egypt. I {will show that I} am the Lord. ¹³But the blood on your houses will be a special sign. When I see the blood, I will pass over* your house. I will cause bad things to happen to the people of Egypt. But none of those bad diseases will hurt you. ¹⁴“So you will always remember tonight—it will be a special holiday for you. Your descendants* will honor the Lord with this holiday forever. ¹⁵On this holiday, you will eat bread made without yeast for seven days. On the first day of this holiday, you will remove all the yeast from your houses. No one should eat any yeast for the full seven days of this holiday. If anyone eats yeast, then you must separate that person from the rest of Israel. ¹⁶There will be holy assemblies on the first day and the last day of the holiday. You must not do any work on these days. The only work you can do on these days is prepare the food for your meals. ¹⁷You must remember the Festival of Unleavened Bread.* Why? Because on this day I took all of your people out of Egypt in groups.* So, all of your descendants* must remember this day. This is a law that will last forever. ¹⁸So, on the evening of the 14th day of the first month (Nisan) you will begin eating bread without yeast. You will eat this bread until the evening of the 21st day of the same month. ¹⁹For seven days there must not be any yeast in your houses. Any person, either a citizen of Israel or a foreigner, who eats yeast at this time must be separated from the rest of Israel. ²⁰On this holiday, you must not eat any yeast. You must eat bread without yeast wherever you live.” ²¹So Moses called all the elders (leaders) together. Moses told them, “Get the lambs for your families. Kill the lambs for the Passover. ²²Take bunches of hyssop* and dip them in the bowls filled with blood. Paint the blood on the sides and tops of the door frames. No one must leave his house until morning. ²³At the time the Lord goes through Egypt to kill the firstborn, the Lord will see the blood on the sides and tops of the door frames. Then the Lord will protect* that house. The Lord will not let the Destroyer come into your houses and hurt you. ²⁴You must remember this command. This law is for you and your descendants* forever. ²⁵You must remember to do this even when you go to the land the Lord is giving you. ²⁶When your children ask you, ‘Why are we doing this ceremony?’ ²⁷you will say, ‘This Passover is to honor the Lord. Why? Because when we were in Egypt, the Lord passed over* the houses of Israel. The Lord killed the Egyptians, but he saved the people in our houses. So now the people bow down and worship the Lord.’” ²⁸The Lord had given this command to Moses and Aaron. So the people of Israel did what the Lord commanded. ²⁹At midnight, the Lord killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh (who ruled Egypt) to the firstborn son of the prisoner sitting in jail. Also all the firstborn animals died. ³⁰That night someone died in every house in Egypt. Pharaoh, his officials, and all the people of Egypt began crying very loudly.

Israel Leaves Egypt

³¹So that night, Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh said to them, “Get up and leave my people. You and your people can do as you say. Go and worship the Lord! ³²Take all of your sheep and cattle with you, just like you said you would. Go! And say a blessing for me too!” ³³The people of Egypt also asked them to hurry and leave. Why? Because they said, “If you don’t leave, we will all die!” ³⁴The people of Israel did not have time to put the yeast in their bread. They just wrapped the bowls of dough with cloth and carried them on their shoulders. ³⁵Then the people of Israel did what Moses asked them to do. They went to their Egyptian neighbors and asked for clothing and things made from silver and gold. ³⁶The Lord caused the Egyptians to be kind to the people of Israel. So the Egyptians gave their riches to the people of Israel. ³⁷The people of Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth. There were about 600,000 men. This does not include the children. ³⁸There were many, many sheep, cattle and other things. There were also many different kinds of people traveling with them. These people were not Israelites, but they left Egypt with the people of Israel. ³⁹The people did not have time to put yeast in their bread. And they did not make any special food for their journey. So they had to bake their bread without yeast. ⁴⁰The people of Israel had lived in Egypt* for 430 years. ⁴¹After 430 years, to the very day, all the armies of the Lord* left Egypt. ⁴²So that is a very special night when the people remember what the Lord did. All the people of Israel will remember that night forever. ⁴³The Lord told Moses and Aaron, “Here are the rules for Passover: No foreigner is to eat the Passover. ⁴⁴But if a person buys a slave, and if he circumcises* him, then the slave can eat the Passover. ⁴⁵But if a person just lives in your country, or if a person is only hired to work for you, then that person must not eat the Passover. {Passover is for the people of Israel.} ⁴⁶“{Each family must} eat the meal in one house. None of the food is to be taken outside the house. Don’t break any of the lamb’s bones. ⁴⁷The whole community of Israel must do this ceremony. ⁴⁸If a non-Israelite lives with you, and if he wants to share in the Lord’s Passover, then he must be circumcised.* Then he will be the same as any other citizen of Israel, so he can share in the meal. But if a man is not circumcised, then he cannot eat the Passover meal. ⁴⁹The same rules are for everyone. It does not matter if a person is a citizen or a non-Israelite living in your country—the same rules are for everyone.” ⁵⁰So all the people of Israel obeyed the commands that the Lord gave to Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹So on that same day, the Lord led all the people of Israel out of the country of Egypt. The people left in groups.*

month That is, the month of Abib (Nisan). This was about the middle of March to the middle of April. twilight The time after the sun goes down, but before dark. Passover The Hebrew word means “to skip, pass over” or “to protect.” firstborn The first child born into a family. The firstborn son was very important in ancient times. pass over Or, “protect.” descendants A person’s children and their future families. Unleavened Bread Bread made without yeast. groups Or, “divisions.” This is a military term that shows Israel was organized like an army. hyssop A plant with stems about 3 feet long. The leaves and branches are like hair, so they could be used like a brush. protect Or, “pass over.” passed over Or, “protected.” Egypt The ancient Greek and Samaritan translations say, “Egypt and Canaan.” This would mean they counted the years from about Abraham’s time, not from Joseph’s. See Gen. 15:12-16 and Gal. 3:17. armies of the Lord The people of Israel. circumcise(d) To have the foreskin cut off. This was done to every Jewish male to show he shared in the agreement God made with Israel. See Gen. 17:9-14.