Frogs over the Land

8 ^[a]Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “^(A)Let My people go, that they may serve Me. ² But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite your whole territory with frogs. ³ The Nile will ^(B)swarm with frogs, which will come up and go into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and on your people, and into your ovens and into your kneading bowls. ⁴ So the frogs will come up on you and your people and all your servants.”’” ^5 [b]Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘^(C)Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the ^[c]streams and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’” ⁶ So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the ^[d](D)frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. ^7 (E)The ^[e]magicians did ^[f]the same with their secret arts, ^[g]making frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

⁸ Then Pharaoh ^(F)called for Moses and Aaron and said, “^(G)Entreat the Lord that He remove the frogs from me and from my people; and ^(H)I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.” ⁹ Moses said to Pharaoh, “^[h]The honor is yours to tell me: when shall I entreat for you and your servants and your people, that the frogs be ^[i]destroyed from you and your houses, that they may be left only in the Nile?”

¹⁰ Then he said, “Tomorrow.” So he said, “May it be according to your word, that you may know that there is ^(I)no one like the Lord our God. ¹¹ The ^(J)frogs will depart from you and your houses and your servants and your people; they will be left only in the Nile.” ¹² Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and ^(K)Moses cried to the Lord concerning the frogs which He had ^[j]inflicted upon Pharaoh. ¹³ The Lord did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, the courts, and the fields. ¹⁴ So they piled them in heaps, and the land ^[k]became foul. ¹⁵ But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he ^[l]hardened his heart and ^(L)did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

The Plague of Insects

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become ^[m]gnats through all the land of Egypt.’” ¹⁷ They did so; and Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and struck the dust of the earth, and there were ^[n]gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became ^[o](M)gnats through all the land of Egypt. ¹⁸ The ^[p]magicians tried with their secret arts to bring forth ^[q]gnats, but ^(N)they could not; so there were ^[r]gnats on man and beast. ¹⁹ Then the ^[s]magicians said to Pharaoh, “^(O)This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was ^[t]hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

²⁰ Now the Lord said to Moses, “^(P)Rise early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, ^[u]as ^(Q)he comes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “^(R)Let My people go, that they may serve Me. ²¹ For if you do not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians will be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they dwell. ^22 (S)But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people are ^[v]living, so that no swarms of flies will be there, in order that you may know that ^[w](T)I, the Lord, am in the midst of the land. ²³ I will ^[x]put a division between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign will occur.”’” ²⁴ Then the Lord did so. And there came ^[y]great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants and the land was ^(U)laid waste because of the swarms of flies in all the land of Egypt.

²⁵ Pharaoh ^(V)called for Moses and Aaron and said, “^(W)Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” ²⁶ But Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for we will sacrifice to the Lord our God ^[z]what is ^(X)an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice ^[aa]what is an abomination to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not then stone us? ²⁷ We must go a ^(Y)three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as He ^[ab]commands us.” ²⁸ Pharaoh said, “^(Z)I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. ^(AA)Make supplication for me.” ²⁹ Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you, and I shall make supplication to the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow; only do not let Pharaoh ^(AB)deal deceitfully again in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”

³⁰ So ^(AC)Moses went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the Lord. ³¹ The Lord did ^[ac]as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people; not one remained. ³² But Pharaoh ^[ad]hardened his heart this time also, and ^(AD)he did not let the people go.

A Song Celebrating the King’s Marriage.

For the choir director; according to the ^[a]Shoshannim. A ^[b]Maskil of the sons of Korah. A Song of Love.

The Sign of Jonah

²⁹ As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “^(A)This generation is a wicked generation; it ^(B)seeks for a ^[a]sign, and yet no ^[b]sign will be given to it but the ^[c]sign of Jonah. ³⁰ For just as ^(C)Jonah became a ^[d]sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. ³¹ The ^(D)Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because ^(E)they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

³³ “^(F)No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. ^34 (G)The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is ^[e]clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is ^[f]bad, your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness. ³⁶ If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.”

Woes upon the Pharisees

³⁷ Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee *asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table. ³⁸ When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first ^[g](H)ceremonially washed before the ^[h]meal. ³⁹ But ^(I)the Lord said to him, “Now ^(J)you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but ^[i]inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. ^40 (K)You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹ But ^(L)give that which is within as charity, and ^[j]then all things are ^(M)clean for you.

⁴² “^(N)But woe to you Pharisees! For you ^(O)pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. ⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees! For you ^(P)love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places. ^44 (Q)Woe to you! For you are like ^[k]concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”

⁴⁵ One of the ^[l](R)lawyers *said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.” ⁴⁶ But He said, “Woe to you ^(S)lawyers as well! For ^(T)you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, ^[m]while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers. ^47 (U)Woe to you! For you build the ^[n]tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. ⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ For this reason also ^(V)the wisdom of God said, ‘^(W)I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will ^[o]persecute, ⁵⁰ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed ^(X)since the foundation of the world, may be ^[p]charged against this generation, ⁵¹ from ^(Y)the blood of Abel to ^(Z)the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be ^[q]charged against this generation.’ ⁵² Woe to you ^[r](AA)lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; ^(AB)you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”

⁵³ When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects, ^54 (AC)plotting against Him ^(AD)to catch ^[s]Him in something He might say.