11 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will send just one more disaster on Pharaoh and his land, and after that he will let you go; in fact, he will be so anxious to get rid of you that he will practically throw you out of the country. ² Tell all the men and women of Israel to ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and silver jewelry.”

³ (For God caused the Egyptians to be very favorable to the people of Israel, and Moses was a very great man in the land of Egypt and was revered by Pharaoh’s officials and the Egyptian people alike.)

⁴ Now Moses announced to Pharaoh,^[a] “Jehovah says, ‘About midnight I will pass through Egypt. ⁵ And all the oldest sons shall die in every family in Egypt, from the oldest child of Pharaoh, heir to his throne, to the oldest child of his lowliest slave; and even the firstborn of the animals. ⁶ The wail of death will resound throughout the entire land of Egypt; never before has there been such anguish, and it will never be again.

⁷ “‘But not a dog shall move his tongue against any of the people of Israel, nor shall any of their animals die. Then you will know that Jehovah makes a distinction between Egyptians and Israelis.’ ⁸ All these officials of yours will come running to me, bowing low and begging, ‘Please leave at once, and take all your people with you.’ Only then will I go!” Then, red-faced with anger, Moses stomped from the palace.^[b]

⁹ The Lord had told Moses, “Pharaoh won’t listen, and this will give me the opportunity of doing mighty miracles to demonstrate my power.” ¹⁰ So, although Moses and Aaron did these miracles right before Pharaoh’s eyes, the Lord hardened his heart so that he wouldn’t let the people leave the land.