The Eighth Plague: Locusts

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his officials, in order that I may show these signs of mine among them^{(A) 2} and that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I have made fools of the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them—so that you may know that I am the Lord.”^(B)

³ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may serve me.^{(C) 4} For if you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country.^{(D) 5} They shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They shall devour the last remnant left you after the hail, and they shall devour every tree of yours that grows in the field.^{(E) 6} They shall fill your houses and the houses of all your officials and of all the Egyptians—something that neither your parents nor your grandparents have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.^(F)

⁷ Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long shall this fellow be a snare to us? Send the people away, so that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?”^{(G) 8} So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God! But which ones are to go?”^{(H) 9} Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; we will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, because we have the Lord’s festival to celebrate.”^{(I) 10} He said to them, “The Lord indeed will be with you, if ever I let your little ones go with you! Plainly, you have some evil purpose in mind. ¹¹ No, never! Your men may go and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.^(J)

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may come upon it and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.”^{(K) 13} So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts. ¹⁴ The locusts came upon all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before nor ever shall be again.^{(L) 15} They covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was black, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on the trees or on the plants in the fields, in all the land of Egypt.^{(M) 16} Pharaoh hurriedly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you.^{(N) 17} Do forgive my sin this once, and pray to the Lord your God that at the least he remove this deadly thing from me.”^{(O) 18} So he went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. ¹⁹ The Lord changed the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea;^[a] not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. ²⁰ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.^(P)

Jesus and John the Baptist

²² After this Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. ²³ John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there, and people kept coming and were being baptized. ²⁴ (John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.)^(A)

²⁵ Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew.^{[a] 26} They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”^{(B) 27} John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.^{(C) 28} You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah,^[b] but I have been sent ahead of him.’^{(D) 29} He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled.^{(E) 30} He must increase, but I must decrease.”^[c]

The One Who Comes from Heaven

³¹ The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all.^{(F) 32} He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony.^{(G) 33} Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified^[d] this, that God is true.^{(H) 34} He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.^{(I) 35} The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands.^{(J) 36} Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life but must endure God’s wrath.^(K)

Salutation

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful^[a] in Christ Jesus:

² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,^{[b](A) 4} just as he chose us in Christ^[c] before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.^{(B) 5} He destined us^[d] for adoption as his children^[e] through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,^{(C) 6} to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace^{(D) 8} that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight ⁹ he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,^{(E) 10} as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.^{(F) 11} In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,^[f] having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,^{(G) 12} so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;^{(H) 14} this^[g] is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.^(I)

Paul’s Prayer

¹⁵ I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love^[h] toward all the saints, and for this reason ¹⁶ I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers,^{(J) 17} that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him,^{(K) 18} so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may perceive what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. ²⁰ God^[i] put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,^{[j](L) 21} far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.^{(M) 22} And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church,^{(N) 23} which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.^(O)