Exodus 8:20-32

Evangelical Heritage Version

The Fourth Plague: Swarms of Flies

²⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh as he is going out to the water. Tell him this is what the Lord says: Let my people go so that they may serve me. ²¹ For if you will not let my people go, watch out. I will send swarms of flies^[a] on you, your servants, and your people, and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies. They will even cover the ground. ²² But on that day, I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people are living. There will not be swarms of flies in Goshen. In this way, you will know that I am the Lord on the earth. ²³ I will make a distinction^[b] between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign will take place.”

²⁴ So that is what the Lord did. Thick swarms of flies went into Pharaoh’s palace and his officials’ houses. Throughout Egypt, the land was ruined because of the swarms of flies.

²⁵ Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, offer sacrifices to your God in the land!”

²⁶ But Moses said, “It is not right to do that, because the sacrifices which we will offer to the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. If we offer sacrifices that are detestable to the Egyptians right in front of them, won’t they stone us? ²⁷ We will go on a three-day journey into the wilderness and offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, just as he tells us.”

²⁸ Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but do not go very far away. Plead for me.”

²⁹ Moses said, “All right. As soon as I leave you, I will plead to the Lord so that tomorrow the swarms of flies will depart from Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. Only do not let Pharaoh act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

³⁰ Moses went out from Pharaoh and pleaded to the Lord. ³¹ The Lord did as Moses said, and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. Not a fly remained. ³² Pharaoh made his heart unyielding^[c] this time also, and he did not let the people go.