Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh is stubborn; he will not let the people go. Go to pharaoh early in the morning, as he is going out on the water, and stand by the bank of the Nile to meet him. Say to him, 'the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you with this command: Let my people go that they may worship me in the wilderness, but so far you have not listened. the LORD declares, By this you shall know that I am the LORD: See, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand and they shall be changed into blood. The fish, too, that are in the Nile shall die, and the Nile shall become foul, so that the Egyptians will hate to drink its water.'"
Then Moses lifted up the staff and in the presence of Pharaoh and his servants struck the waters that were in the river Nile; and all its waters were changed into blood. The fish, too, that were in the Nile died, and the river became so foul that the Egyptians could not drink its water, but dug round about the Nile for water to drink.
Seven days later the LORD gave this command to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, 'the LORD commands: Let my people go that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, then I will afflict all your land with frogs; and the Nile shall swarm with frogs which shall go up and come into your house, into your sleeping chamber, upon your bed, into the houses of your servants, upon your people, and into your ovens and kneading-troughs; and the frogs shall come up even upon you and your people and all your servants.'"
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron: 'Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come up over the land of Egypt.'" So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to the LORD to take away the frogs from me and my people; then I will let the people go, that they may offer a sacrifice to the LORD." Moses said to Pharaoh, "Will you do yourself the honor of telling me at what time I shall pray to the LORD in your behalf and in behalf of your servants and people, that the frogs be destroyed from your palaces and be left only in the Nile?" Pharaoh answered, "To-morrow." Then Moses said, "Let it be as you say; that you may know that there is none like the LORD our God, the frogs shall depart from you, from your palaces, and from your servants and people; they shall be left only in the Nile."
When Moses and Aaron had gone out from Pharaoh, Moses prayed to the LORD to remove the frogs which he had brought upon Pharaoh; and the LORD did as Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the courts, and in the fields, and the people gathered them together in many heaps; and the land was filled with a vile odor. But when Pharaoh saw that relief had come, he was stubborn and, as the LORD had said, did not listen to Moses and Aaron.
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, just as he goes out to the water, and say to him, 'the LORD commands: Let my people go that they may worship me. If you will not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies upon you, upon your servants, and upon your people and into your palaces, so that the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, as well as the ground upon which they stand. But at that time I will set apart the land of Goshen in which my people live, and no swarms of flies shall be there, so that you may know that I, the LORD, am in the midst of the earth.'"
And the LORD did so: a vast swarm of flies came upon Pharaoh's palace and into the homes of his servants; and all the land of Egypt was ruined by the swarms of flies.
Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, "I will let you go that you may offer a sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you must not go far away. Pray for me." Moses replied, "I will go out and will pray to the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people to-morrow; only let not Pharaoh again act deceitfully by refusing to let the people go to offer a sacrifice to the LORD."
So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD. And the LORD did as Moses asked; but this time also Pharaoh was stubborn and would not let the people go.
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'the LORD the God of the Hebrews commands: Let my people go that they may worship me. For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, then the power of the LORD will bring a very severe pest upon your cattle which are in the field, upon the horses, the asses, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. But the LORD will make a difference between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt, and not one that belongs to the Israelites shall die.'"
So the LORD set a fixed time, saying, "To-morrow the LORD will do this in the land." the LORD did this on the next day, and all the cattle of the Egyptians died; but none of the cattle of the Israelites. Then Pharaoh sent and found that not even one of the cattle of the Israelites was dead; but Pharaoh was stubborn and would not let the people go.
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him,'the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, commands: Let my people go, that they may worship me. Do you still set yourself against my people, so that you will not let them go? To-morrow about this time I will send down a very heavy fall of hail, such as has not been in egypt from the day that it became a nation until now.'"
So the LORD sent down hail upon the land of Egypt, and the lightning flashing in the midst of the hail was very severe, such as had not been before in all Egypt since it became a nation. Through the whole land of Egypt the hail struck down everything that was in the field, both man and beast. The hail also struck down all the growing plants and broke all the trees in the fields. Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, there was no hail.
Again Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said to them, "I have sinned this time; the LORD is right and I and my people are wrong. Pray to the LORD, for there has been enough of these mighty thunderings and hail, and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer." Moses said to him, "As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the LORD; the thunders shall stop, and there shall be no more hail, that you may know that the earth is the LORD's. But as for you and your servants, I know that even then you will not fear the LORD."
So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and spread out his hands to the LORD; and the thunders and hail stopped, and the rain was no longer poured upon the earth. But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders had stopped, he sinned again, and he and his servants became stubborn, and he would not let the Israelites go.
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, and said to him, "the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, commands: 'How long will you refuse to obey me? Let my people go that they may worship me. For if you refuse to let my people go, then to-morrow I will bring locusts into your land, and they will cover the surface of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the ground, and they shall eat the rest of that which is left to you from the hail, and they shall eat all your trees which grow in the field.'"
Then Moses and Aaron were driven out from Pharaoh's presence, but Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD caused an east wind to blow over the land all that day and night. In the morning the east wind brought the locusts, and they went over all the land of Egypt and settled down in all the land of Egypt, a very large swarm, more locusts than there ever were before or ever will be again. For they covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was darkened and nothing green was left, neither tree nor growing plants, anywhere in all the land of Egypt.
Then Pharaoh called for Moses in haste and said, "I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. Now therefore forgive my sin only this once, and pray to the LORD your God to take away from me this deadly plague." So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD, and the LORD made a very strong west wind to blow which took up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea; not a single locust was left in all the land of Egypt. But the LORD let Pharaoh's heart remain stubborn, so that he would not let the Israelites go.
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, so dark that it may be felt." So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven; and there was complete darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days; no one could see another, nor did any one move about for three days. But the Israelites had light in their homes.
Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, "Go, worship the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds stay behind; let your little ones go with you." But Moses said, "You must also give us animals for sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may offer a sacrifice to the LORD our God. Our cattle too must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take these to offer to the LORD our God, and we do not know what we must offer to the LORD until we arrive there."
But the LORD let Pharaoh's heart remain stubborn, and he would not let them go. And Pharaoh said to him, "Go away from me; take care that you never come to me again; for on the day that you come to me you shall die." Moses replied, "You have spoken truly, I shall never see you again."
Moses said to Pharaoh, "the LORD declares: 'About midnight I will go through all of Egypt. All the eldest sons in the land of Egypt shall die, from the eldest son of Pharaoh who sits upon his throne, even to the eldest son of the slave girl who is behind the mill, and all the first-born of the cattle. There shall be a great cry of sorrow all over the land of Egypt, such as has never been before and never shall be again.' But not a single dog shall bark at any of the Israelites nor their animals, that you may know that the LORD does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israelites. All these your servants shall come to me and bow down before me, saying, 'Go away, together with all the people that follow you.' After that I will go away." And Moses went from Pharaoh in great anger.