Death of the Firstborn Announced^(A)

11 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. ^(B)Afterward he will let you go from here. ^(C)When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether. ² Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, ^(D)articles of silver and articles of gold.” ^3 (E)And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man ^(F)Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

⁴ Then Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ^(G)‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; ⁵ and ^(H)all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. ^6 (I)Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, ^(J)such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. ^7 (K)But against none of the children of Israel ^(L)shall a dog ^[a]move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’ ⁸ And ^(M)all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” ^(N)Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

⁹ But the Lord said to Moses, ^(O)“Pharaoh will not heed you, so that ^(P)My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; ^(Q)and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

The Danites Adopt Micah’s Idolatry

18 In ^(A)those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days ^(B)the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for itself to dwell in; for until that day their inheritance among the tribes of Israel had not fallen to them. ² So the children of Dan sent five men of their family from their territory, men of valor from ^(C)Zorah and Eshtaol, ^(D)to spy out the land and search it. They said to them, “Go, search the land.” So they went to the mountains of Ephraim, to the ^(E)house of Micah, and lodged there. ³ While they were at the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. They turned aside and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What do you have here?”

⁴ He said to them, “Thus and so Micah did for me. He has ^(F)hired me, and I have become his priest.”

⁵ So they said to him, “Please ^(G)inquire ^(H)of God, that we may know whether the journey on which we go will be prosperous.”

⁶ And the priest said to them, ^(I)“Go in peace. ^[a]The presence of the Lord be with you on your way.”

⁷ So the five men departed and went to ^(J)Laish. They saw the people who were there, ^(K)how they dwelt safely, in the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure. There were no rulers in the land who might put them to shame for anything. They were far from the ^(L)Sidonians, and they had no ties ^[b]with anyone.

⁸ Then the spies came back to their brethren at ^(M)Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brethren said to them, “What is your report?”

⁹ So they said, ^(N)“Arise, let us go up against them. For we have seen the land, and indeed it is very good. Would you ^(O)do nothing? Do not hesitate to go, and enter to possess the land. ¹⁰ When you go, you will come to a ^(P)secure people and a large land. For God has given it into your hands, ^(Q)a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”

¹¹ And six hundred men of the family of the Danites went from there, from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war. ¹² Then they went up and encamped in ^(R)Kirjath Jearim in Judah. (Therefore they call that place ^(S)Mahaneh Dan^[c] to this day. There it is, west of Kirjath Jearim.) ¹³ And they passed from there to the mountains of Ephraim, and came to ^(T)the house of Micah.

^14 (U)Then the five men who had gone to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their brethren, “Do you know that ^(V)there are in these houses an ephod, household idols, a carved image, and a molded image? Now therefore, consider what you should do.” ¹⁵ So they turned aside there, and came to the house of the young Levite man—to the house of Micah—and greeted him. ¹⁶ The ^(W)six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷ Then ^(X)the five men who had gone to spy out the land went up. Entering there, they took ^(Y)the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image. The priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men who were armed with weapons of war.

¹⁸ When these went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

Prelude to the Bowl Judgments

15 Then ^(A)I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: ^(B)seven angels having the seven last plagues, ^(C)for in them the wrath of God is complete.

² And I saw something like ^(D)a sea of glass ^(E)mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, ^(F)over his image and ^[a]over his mark and over the ^(G)number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, ^(H)having harps of God. ³ They sing ^(I)the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the ^(J)Lamb, saying:

⁵ After these things I looked, and ^[c]behold, ^(P)the ^[d]temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. ⁶ And out of the ^[e]temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, ^(Q)clothed in pure bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden bands. ^7 (R)Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God ^(S)who lives forever and ever. ^8 (T)The temple was filled with smoke ^(U)from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.