Frogs over the Land

8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me. ² However, if you refuse to let them go, hear this: I am going to strike your entire land with frogs. ³ The Nile will swarm with frogs, which will come up and go into your home, into your bedroom and on to your bed, and into the houses of your servants and on your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. ⁴ So the frogs will come up on you and on your people and all your servants.”’” ⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the streams and canals, over the pools [among the reeds], and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’” ⁶ So Aaron stretched out his hand [with his staff] over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. ⁷ But the magicians (soothsayer-priests) did the same thing with their secret arts and enchantments, and ^[a]brought up [more] frogs on the land of Egypt.

⁸ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Plead with the Lord that He may take away the frogs from me and my people; and I will let the people go, so that they may sacrifice to the Lord.” ⁹ And Moses said to Pharaoh, “I am entirely at your service: when shall I plead [with the Lord] for you and your servants and your people, so that the frogs may leave you and your houses and remain only in the Nile?”

¹⁰ Then Pharaoh said, “^[b]Tomorrow.” Moses replied, “May it be as you say, so that you may know [without any doubt] and acknowledge that there is no one like the Lord our God. ¹¹ The frogs will leave you and your houses and leave your servants and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.” ¹² So Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to the Lord [as he had agreed to do] concerning the frogs which God had inflicted on Pharaoh. ¹³ The Lord did as Moses asked, and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards and villages, and out of the fields. ¹⁴ So they piled them up in heaps, and the land was detestable and stank. ¹⁵ But when Pharaoh saw that there was [temporary] relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen or pay attention to them, just as the Lord had said.