The Plague of Darkness

²¹ Then the Lord told Moses, “Stretch your hand toward the sky and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that one can feel.” ²² So Moses stretched his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. ²³ No one could see anyone else, nor could anyone get up from his place for three days. But there was light for all the Israelis in their dwellings.

²⁴ Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go serve^[a] the Lord, but your flocks and your cattle are to remain. Even your little ones can go with you!”

²⁵ Moses said, “You must let us have^[b] sacrifices and burnt offerings to offer to the Lord our God. ²⁶ And even our livestock must go with us. Not a hoof will be left behind because we will use^[c] some of them to serve the Lord our God, and until we get there we won’t know what we need to serve^[d] the Lord.”

²⁷ The Lord made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn,^[e] and he did not want to let them go. ²⁸ Then Pharaoh told him, “Get away from me! Watch out that you never see my face again, because on the day you see my face, you will die!”

²⁹ Moses said, “Just as you have said, I won’t see your face again!”