The Plague of Locusts

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for ^(A)I have ^[a]hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, so that I may ^[b]perform these signs of Mine ^[c]among them, ² and ^(B)that you may tell in the ^[d]presence of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I ^[e]performed My signs among them, ^(C)so that you may know that I am the Lord.”

³ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews says: ‘How long will you refuse to ^(D)humble yourself before Me? ^(E)Let My people go, so that they may serve Me. ⁴ For if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. ⁵ And they will cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. ^(F)They will also eat the rest of what has survived—what is left to you from the hail—and they will eat every tree of yours which grows ^[f]in the field. ⁶ Then ^(G)your houses will be filled with them, ^[g]together with the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians, something which neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day that they ^[h]came upon the earth until this day.’” And he turned and left Pharaoh. ⁷ Then ^(H)Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be ^(I)a snare to us? Let the ^[i]people go, so that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet ^[j]realize that Egypt is destroyed?” ⁸ So Moses and Aaron ^(J)were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “^(K)Go, serve the Lord your God! ^[k]Who specifically are the ones who are going?” ⁹ Moses said, “^(L)We shall go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, ^(M)with our flocks and our herds we shall go, for we ^[l]must hold a feast to the Lord.” ¹⁰ Then he said to them, “So may the Lord be with you, when I let you and your little ones go! Watch out, for evil is ^[m]on your mind! ¹¹ Not so! Go now, but only the men among you, and serve the Lord, since ^[n]that is what you desire.” So ^(N)they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, “^(O)Reach out with your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come up on the land of Egypt and ^(P)eat every plant of the land, everything that the hail has left.” ¹³ So Moses reached out with his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord directed an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind ^[o]brought the ^(Q)locusts. ^14 (R)The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled in all the territory of Egypt; they were very ^[p]numerous. There had never been so many ^[q]locusts, nor would there be so many ^[r]again. ¹⁵ For they covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was darkened; and they ^(S)ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Therefore nothing green was left on tree or plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt. ¹⁶ Then Pharaoh hurriedly ^(T)called for Moses and Aaron, and he said, “^(U)I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. ¹⁷ So now, please forgive my sin only this once, and ^(V)plead with the Lord your God, that He would only remove this death from me.” ¹⁸ Then ^(W)he left Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. ¹⁹ So the Lord shifted the wind to a very strong west wind, which picked up the locusts and drove them into the ^[s]Red Sea; not one locust was left in all the territory of Egypt. ²⁰ But ^(X)the Lord ^[t]hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go.

John the Baptist’s Last Testimony

²² After these things Jesus and His ^(A)disciples came into the land of Judea; and there He was spending time with them and ^(B)baptizing. ²³ Now John also was baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there; and people were coming and being baptized— ²⁴ for ^(C)John had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵ Then a matter of dispute developed on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about ^[a](D)purification. ²⁶ And they came to John and said to him, “^(E)Rabbi, He who was with you ^(F)beyond the Jordan, to whom you ^(G)have testified—behold, He is baptizing and all the people are coming to Him.” ²⁷ John replied, “^(H)A person can receive not even one thing unless it ^(I)has been given to him from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves ^[b]are my witnesses that I said, ‘^(J)I am not the ^[c]Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ ²⁹ He who has the bride is ^(K)the groom; but the friend of the groom, who stands and listens to him, rejoices greatly because of the groom’s voice. So this ^(L)joy of mine has been made full. ³⁰ He must ^[d]increase, but I must ^[e]decrease.

³¹ “^(M)He who comes from above is above all; ^(N)the one who is only from the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. ^(O)He who comes from heaven is above all. ³² What He has seen and heard, of this He ^(P)testifies; and ^(Q)no one accepts His testimony. ³³ The one who has accepted His testimony ^(R)has certified that God is true. ³⁴ For He whom God ^(S)sent speaks the words of God; ^(T)for He does not give the Spirit ^[f]sparingly. ^35 (U)The Father loves the Son and ^(V)has entrusted all things to His hand. ³⁶ The one who ^(W)believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who ^(X)does not ^[g]obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

The Blessings of Redemption

1 Paul, ^(A)an apostle of ^(B)Christ Jesus ^[a](C)by the will of God,

To the ^[b](D)saints who are ^[c]at ^(E)Ephesus and ^(F)are faithful in ^(G)Christ Jesus: ^2 (H)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

^3 (I)Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in ^(J)the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as ^(K)He chose us in Him before ^(L)the foundation of the world, that we would be ^(M)holy and blameless before ^[d]Him. ^(N)In love ^5 [e]He ^(O)predestined us to ^(P)adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, ^(Q)according to the good pleasure of His will, ^6 (R)to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He favored us in ^(S)the Beloved. ^7 (T)In ^[f]Him we have ^(U)redemption ^(V)through His blood, the ^(W)forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to ^(X)the riches of His grace ⁸ which He ^[g]lavished on ^[h]us. In all wisdom and insight ⁹ He ^[i](Y)made known to us the mystery of His will, ^(Z)according to His good pleasure which He ^(AA)set forth in Him, ¹⁰ regarding His plan of ^(AB)the fullness of the times, ^(AC)to bring all things together in Christ, things ^[j]in the heavens and things on the earth. ^11 [k]In Him we also ^(AD)have obtained an inheritance, having been ^(AE)predestined ^(AF)according to the purpose of Him who works all things ^(AG)in accordance with the plan of His will, ¹² to the end that ^[l]we who were the first to hope in the ^[m]Christ would be ^(AH)to the praise of His glory. ¹³ In ^[n]Him, ^[o]you also, after listening to ^(AI)the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also ^[p]believed, you were ^(AJ)sealed in ^[q]Him with ^(AK)the Holy Spirit of the promise, ¹⁴ who is a ^(AL)first installment of ^(AM)our inheritance, in regard to the ^(AN)redemption of ^(AO)God’s own possession, ^(AP)to the praise of His glory.

¹⁵ For this reason I too, ^(AQ)having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and ^[r]your love for ^(AR)all the ^[s]saints, ^16 (AS)do not cease giving thanks for you, ^(AT)while making mention of you in my prayers; ¹⁷ that the ^(AU)God of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^(AV)the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of ^(AW)wisdom and of ^(AX)revelation in the ^[t]knowledge of Him. ¹⁸ I pray that ^(AY)the eyes of your heart ^[u]may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the ^(AZ)hope of His ^(BA)calling, what are ^(BB)the riches of the glory of ^(BC)His inheritance in ^(BD)the ^[v]saints, ¹⁹ and what is the ^[w]boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe. ^(BE)These are in accordance with the working of the ^(BF)strength of His might ²⁰ which He brought about in Christ, when He ^(BG)raised Him from the dead and ^(BH)seated Him at His right hand in ^(BI)the heavenly places, ²¹ far above ^(BJ)all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every ^(BK)name that is named, not only in ^(BL)this age but also in the one to come. ²² And He ^(BM)put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him ^(BN)head over all things to the church, ²³ which is His ^(BO)body, the ^(BP)fullness of Him who ^(BQ)fills ^(BR)all in all.