The Fourth Plague: Flies

²⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(A)“Rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, ^(B)“Let my people go, that they may serve me. ²¹ Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people, and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. ²² But on that day ^(C)I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, ^(D)that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.^{[a] 23} Thus I will put a division^[b] between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen.”’” ²⁴ And the Lord did so. ^(E)There came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses. Throughout all the land of Egypt the land was ruined by the swarms of flies.

²⁵ Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” ²⁶ But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an ^(F)abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings ^(G)abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? ²⁷ We must go ^(H)three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God ^(I)as he tells us.” ²⁸ So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you must not go very far away. ^(J)Plead for me.” ²⁹ Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you and I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh ^(K)cheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” ³⁰ So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. ³¹ And the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained. ³² But Pharaoh ^(L)hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go.

The Fifth Plague: Egyptian Livestock Die

9 Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(M)“Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says ^(N)the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. ² For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, ³ behold, ^(O)the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. ^4 (P)But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.”’” ⁵ And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” ⁶ And the next day the Lord did this thing. ^(Q)All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. ⁷ And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But ^(R)the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

The Sixth Plague: Boils

⁸ And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. ⁹ It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become ^(S)boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. ¹¹ And ^(T)the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. ^12 (U)But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as ^(V)the Lord had spoken to Moses.

You Must Be Born Again

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named ^(A)Nicodemus, ^(B)a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus^{[a] (C)}by night and said to him, ^(D)“Rabbi, ^(E)we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do ^(F)unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is ^(G)born ^(H)again^[b] he cannot ^(I)see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born ^(J)of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ^6 (K)That which is born of the flesh is ^(L)flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.^{[c] 7 (M)}Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You^[d] must be born ^(N)again.’ ^8 (O)The wind^[e] blows ^(P)where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus said to him, ^(Q)“How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel ^(R)and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(S)we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but ^(T)you^[f] do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ^13 (U)No one has ^(V)ascended into heaven except ^(W)he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.^{[g] 14} And ^(X)as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man ^(Y)be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes ^(Z)in him ^(AA)may have eternal life.^[h]

For God So Loved the World

¹⁶ “For ^(AB)God so loved ^(AC)the world,^{[i] (AD)}that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not ^(AE)perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For ^(AF)God did not send his Son into the world ^(AG)to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ^18 (AH)Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not ^(AI)believed in the name of the only Son of God. ^19 (AJ)And this is the judgment: ^(AK)the light has come into the world, and ^(AL)people loved the darkness rather than the light because ^(AM)their works were evil. ^20 (AN)For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, ^(AO)lest his works should be exposed. ²¹ But whoever ^(AP)does what is true ^(AQ)comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

The Seventh Plague: Hail

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(A)“Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. ¹⁴ For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself,^[a] and on your servants and your people, so ^(B)that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. ¹⁵ For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. ^16 (C)But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so ^(D)that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. ^17 (E)You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. ¹⁸ Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. ¹⁹ Now therefore send, ^(F)get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.”’” ²⁰ Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, ²¹ but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field.

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be ^(G)hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant of the field, in the land of Egypt.” ²³ Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the ^(H)Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. ²⁴ There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. ²⁵ The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail ^(I)struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. ^26 (J)Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.

²⁷ Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time ^(K)I have sinned; the ^(L)Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. ^28 (M)Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” ²⁹ Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, ^(N)I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that ^(O)the earth is the Lord's. ³⁰ But as for you and your servants, ^(P)I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” ³¹ (The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. ³² But the wheat and the emmer^[b] were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.) ³³ So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and ^(Q)stretched out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. ³⁴ But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and ^(R)hardened his heart, ^(S)he and his servants. ³⁵ So ^(T)the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.

Greeting

¹ Paul, ^(A)a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and ^(B)Timothy our brother,

To Philemon our beloved fellow worker ² and Apphia our sister and ^(C)Archippus our ^(D)fellow soldier, and ^(E)the church in your house:

^3 (F)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philemon's Love and Faith

^4 (G)I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, ⁵ because I ^(H)hear of your love and ^(I)of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, ⁶ and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full ^(J)knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.^{[a] 7} For I have derived much joy and ^(K)comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints ^(L)have been refreshed through you.

Paul's Plea for Onesimus

⁸ Accordingly, ^(M)though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do ^(N)what is required, ⁹ yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now ^(O)a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— ¹⁰ I appeal to you for ^(P)my child, ^(Q)Onesimus,^{[b] (R)}whose father I became in my imprisonment. ¹¹ (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) ¹² I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. ¹³ I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me ^(S)on your behalf ^(T)during my imprisonment for the gospel, ¹⁴ but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be ^(U)by compulsion but of your own accord. ¹⁵ For this perhaps is why ^(V)he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, ^16 (W)no longer as a bondservant^[c] but more than a bondservant, as ^(X)a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, ^(Y)both in the flesh and in the Lord.

¹⁷ So if you consider me ^(Z)your partner, receive him as you would receive me. ¹⁸ If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. ^19 (AA)I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. ²⁰ Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. ^(AB)Refresh my heart in Christ.

^21 (AC)Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. ²² At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for ^(AD)I am hoping that ^(AE)through your prayers ^(AF)I will be graciously given to you.

Final Greetings

^23 (AG)Epaphras, my ^(AH)fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, ²⁴ and so do ^(AI)Mark, ^(AJ)Aristarchus, ^(AK)Demas, and ^(AL)Luke, my fellow workers.

^25 (AM)The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.