The Ninth Plague: Darkness

²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.”^(A)

²⁴ So the Israelites departed from there at that time by tribes and families, and they went out from there to their own territories.

²⁵ In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.^(A)

⁴ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:^{(A) 5} Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶ Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.^{(B) 7} But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.^{(C) 8} For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to your dreams that you dream,^{(D) 9} for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the Lord.^(E)

God Will Restore Israel

¹⁴ Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, “As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt,”^{(A) 15} but “As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them.” For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their ancestors.^(B)