Passage results

Listen to this passage
View commentary related to this passage

Exodus 9

Dead Animals

   The LORD God of the Hebrews commands you to let his people go, so they can worship him. ²If you keep refusing, ³he will bring a terrible disease on your horses and donkeys, your camels and cattle, and your sheep and goats. ⁴But the LORD will protect the animals that belong to the people of Israel, and none of theirs will die. ⁵Tomorrow is the day the LORD has set to do this.

    ⁶It happened the next day--all of the animals belonging to the Egyptians died, but the Israelites did not lose even one. ⁷When the king found out, he was still too stubborn to let the people go.

Sores

   Take a few handfuls of ashes from a stove and have Moses throw them into the air. Be sure the king is watching. ⁹The ashes will blow across the land of Egypt, causing sores to break out on people and animals.

    ¹⁰So they took a few handfuls of ashes and went to the king. ^[a] Moses threw them into the air, and sores immediately broke out on the Egyptians and their animals. ¹¹The magicians were suffering so much from the sores, that they could not even come to Moses. ¹²Everything happened just as the LORD had told Moses--he made the king too stubborn to listen to Moses and Aaron.

Hailstones

   The LORD God of the Hebrews commands you to let his people go, so they can worship him! ¹⁴If you don't, he will send his worst plagues to strike you, your officials, and everyone else in your country. Then you will find out that no one can oppose the LORD. ¹⁵In fact, he could already have sent a terrible disease and wiped you from the face of the earth. ¹⁶But he has kept you alive, just to show you his power and to bring honor to himself everywhere in the world.

    ¹⁷You are still determined not to let the LORD's people go. ¹⁸All right. At this time tomorrow, he will bring on Egypt the worst hailstorm in its history. ¹⁹You had better give orders for every person and every animal in Egypt to take shelter. If they don't, they will die.

    ²⁰Some of the king's officials were frightened by what the LORD had said, and they hurried off to make sure their slaves and animals were safe. ²¹But others paid no attention to his threats and left their slaves and animals out in the open.

    ²²Then the LORD told Moses, " Stretch your arm toward the sky, so that hailstones will fall on people, animals, and crops in the land of Egypt." ^23-24Moses pointed his walking stick toward the sky, and hailstones started falling everywhere. Thunder roared, and lightning flashed back and forth, striking the ground. This was the worst storm in the history of Egypt. ²⁵People, animals, and crops were pounded by the hailstones, and bark was stripped from trees. ²⁶Only Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was safe from the storm.

    ²⁷The king sent for Moses and Aaron and told them, " Now I have really sinned! My people and I are guilty, and the LORD is right. ²⁸We can't stand any more of this thunder and hail. Please ask the LORD to make it stop. Your people can go--you don't have to stay in Egypt any longer."

    ²⁹Moses answered, " As soon as I leave the city, I will lift my arms in prayer. When the thunder and hail stop, you will know that the earth belongs to the LORD. ³⁰But I am certain that neither you nor your officials really fear the LORD God."

    ³¹Meanwhile, the flax and barley crops had been destroyed by the storm because they were ready to ripen. ³²But the wheat crops ripen later, and they were not damaged.

    ³³After Moses left the royal palace and the city, he lifted his arms in prayer to the LORD, and the thunder, hail, and drenching rain stopped. ³⁴When the king realized that the storm was over, he disobeyed once more. He and his officials were so stubborn ³⁵that he refused to let the Israelites go. This was exactly what the LORD had said would happen.

Exodus 10

Locusts

   Go back to the king. ^[b] I have made him and his officials stubborn, so that I could work these miracles. ²I did this because I want you to tell your children and your grandchildren about my miracles and about my harsh treatment of the Egyptians. Then all of you will know that I am the LORD. ³Moses and Aaron went to the king and told him that the LORD God of the Hebrews had said:

   How long will you stubbornly refuse to obey? Release my people so they can worship me. ⁴Do this by tomorrow, or I will cover your country with so many locusts ^{[c] 5}that you won't be able to see the ground. Most of your crops were ruined by the hailstones, but these locusts will destroy what little is left, including the trees. ⁶Your palace, the homes of your officials, and all other houses in Egypt will overflow with more locusts than have ever been seen in this country. After Moses left the palace, ⁷the king's officials asked, " Your Majesty, how much longer is this man going to be a troublemaker? Why don't you let the people leave, so they can worship the LORD their God? Don't you know that Egypt is a disaster?"

    ⁸The king had Moses and Aaron brought back, and he said, " All right, you may go and worship the LORD your God. But first tell me who will be going."

    ⁹" Everyone, young and old," Moses answered. " We will even take our sheep, goats, and cattle, because we want to hold a celebration in honor of the LORD."

    ¹⁰The king replied, " The LORD had better watch over you on the day I let you leave with your families! You're up to no good. ¹¹Do you want to worship the LORD? All right, take only the men and go." Then Moses and Aaron were chased out of the palace.

    ¹²The LORD told Moses, " Stretch your arm toward Egypt. Swarms of locusts will come and eat everything left by the hail."

    ¹³Moses held out his walking stick, and the LORD sent an east wind that blew across Egypt the rest of the day and all that night. By morning, locusts ¹⁴were swarming everywhere. Never before had there been so many locusts in Egypt, and never again will there be so many. ¹⁵The ground was black with locusts, and they ate everything left on the trees and in the fields. Nothing green remained in Egypt--not a tree or a plant.

    ¹⁶At once the king sent for Moses and Aaron. He told them, " I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. ¹⁷Forgive me one more time and ask the LORD to stop these insects from killing every living plant."

    ¹⁸Moses left the palace and prayed. ¹⁹Then the LORD sent a strong west wind ^[d] that swept the locusts into the Red Sea. ^[e] Not one locust was left anywhere in Egypt, ²⁰but the LORD made the king so stubborn that he still refused to let the Israelites go.

Darkness

    ²⁴The king ^[f] sent for Moses and told him, " Go worship the LORD! And take your families with you. Just leave your sheep, goats, and cattle." ²⁵" No!" Moses replied. " You must let us offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, ²⁶and we won't know which animals we will need until we get there. That's why we can't leave even one of them here."

    ²⁷This time the LORD made the king so stubborn ²⁸that he said to Moses, " Get out and stay out! If you ever come back, you're dead!"

    ²⁹" Have it your way," Moses answered. " You won't see me again."

Exodus 11

Moses Warns the Egyptians That the LORD Will Kill Their First-Born Sons

   I am going to punish the king ^[g] of Egypt and his people one more time. Then the king will gladly let you leave his land, so that I will stop punishing the Egyptians. He will even chase you out. ²Now go and tell my people to ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and silver jewelry. ³So the LORD made the Egyptians greatly respect the Israelites, and everyone, including the king and his officials, considered Moses an important leader.

    ⁴Moses went to the king and said:

   I have come to let you know what the LORD is going to do. About midnight he will go through the land of Egypt, ⁵and wherever he goes, the first-born son in every family will die. Your own son will die, and so will the son of the lowest slave woman. Even the first-born males of cattle will die. ⁶Everywhere in Egypt there will be loud crying. Nothing like this has ever happened before or will ever happen again.

    ⁷But there won't be any need for the Israelites to cry. Things will be so quiet that not even a dog will be heard barking. Then you Egyptians will know that the LORD is good to the Israelites, even while he punishes you. ⁸Your leaders will come and bow down, begging me to take my people and leave your country. Then we will leave.

   Moses was very angry; he turned and left the king.

    ⁹What the LORD had earlier said to Moses came true. He had said, " The king of Egypt won't listen. Then I will perform even more miracles." ¹⁰So the king of Egypt saw Moses and Aaron work miracles, but the LORD made him stubbornly refuse to let the Israelites leave his country.

Listen to this passage
View commentary related to this passage

A Woman's Faith

(Mark 7.24-30)

    ²⁵The woman came closer. Then she knelt down and begged, "Please help me, Lord!"

    ²⁶Jesus replied, "It isn't right to take food away from children and feed it to dogs." ^{[c] 27}"Lord, that's true," the woman said, "but even dogs get the crumbs that fall from their owner's table."

    ²⁸Jesus answered, "Dear woman, you really do have a lot of faith, and you will be given what you want." At that moment her daughter was healed.

Jesus Heals Many People

Jesus Feeds Four Thousand

(Mark 8.1-10)

    ³³His disciples said, "This place is like a desert. Where can we find enough food to feed such a crowd?"

    ³⁴Jesus asked them how much food they had. They replied, "Seven small loaves of bread ^[d] and a few little fish." ³⁵After Jesus had told the people to sit down, ³⁶he took the seven loaves of bread and the fish and gave thanks. He then broke them and handed them to his disciples, who passed them around to the crowds.

    ³⁷Everyone ate all they wanted, and the leftovers filled seven large baskets.

    ³⁸There were four thousand men who ate, not counting the women and children.

    ³⁹After Jesus had sent the crowds away, he got into a boat and sailed across the lake. He came to shore near the town of Magadan. ^[e]