¹⁰ As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried^(A) out to the Lord. ¹¹ They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?^(B) What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”^(C)

²² “‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen,^(A) where my people live;^(B) no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know^(C) that I, the Lord, am in this land. ²³ I will make a distinction^[a] between my people and your people.^(D) This sign will occur tomorrow.’”

⁴ But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt,^(A) so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.’”

⁵ The Lord set a time and said, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land.” ⁶ And the next day the Lord did it: All the livestock^(B) of the Egyptians died,^(C) but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died. ⁷ Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart^(D) was unyielding and he would not let the people go.^(E)

²⁵ Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—both people and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree.^{(A) 26} The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen,^(B) where the Israelites were.^(C)

The Plague of Darkness

²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness^(A) spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” ²² So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness^(B) covered all Egypt for three days. ²³ No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.^(C)

The Plague on the Firstborn

11 Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go^(A) from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.^{(B) 2} Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.”^{(C) 3} (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed^(D) toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded^(E) in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.)

⁴ So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight^(F) I will go throughout Egypt.^{(G) 5} Every firstborn^(H) son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill,^(I) and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. ⁶ There will be loud wailing^(J) throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. ⁷ But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction^(K) between Egypt and Israel. ⁸ All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go,^(L) you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.”^(M) Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

⁹ The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen^(N) to you—so that my wonders^(O) may be multiplied in Egypt.” ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart,^(P) and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

²⁷ Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place.^(A) The Egyptians were fleeing toward^[a] it, and the Lord swept them into the sea.^{(B) 28} The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea.^(C) Not one of them survived.^(D)

²⁹ But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground,^(E) with a wall^(F) of water on their right and on their left. ³⁰ That day the Lord saved^(G) Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.

Manna and Quail

16 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin,^(A) which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.^{(B) 2} In the desert the whole community grumbled^(C) against Moses and Aaron. ³ The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt!^(D) There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food^(E) we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”^(F)

³⁵ The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold^(A) and for clothing.^{(B) 36} The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed^(C) toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered^(D) the Egyptians.