The Second Plague: Frogs

8 ^[a] Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that ^(A)they may serve me. ² But if you ^(B)refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with ^(C)frogs. ³ The Nile shall swarm with frogs that shall come up into your house and into ^(D)your bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your servants and your people,^[b] and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. ⁴ The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your servants.”’” ^5 [c] And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ^(E)‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt!’” ⁶ So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and ^(F)the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. ⁷ But ^(G)the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

⁸ Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, ^(H)“Plead with the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and ^(I)I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” ⁹ Moses said to Pharaoh, “Be pleased to command me when ^(J)I am to plead for you and for your servants and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.” ¹⁰ And he said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “Be it as you say, so ^(K)that you may know that ^(L)there is no one like the Lord our God. ¹¹ The frogs shall go away from you and your houses and your servants and your people. They shall be left only in the Nile.” ¹² So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the Lord about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh.^{[d] 13} And the Lord did according to the word of Moses. The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. ¹⁴ And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. ¹⁵ But when Pharaoh saw that there was a ^(M)respite, he ^(N)hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

The Third Plague: Gnats

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ^(O)‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.’” ¹⁷ And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and ^(P)there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt. ¹⁸ The ^(Q)magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. ¹⁹ Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is ^(R)the finger of God.” But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

The Fourth Plague: Flies

²⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(S)“Rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, ^(T)“Let my people go, that they may serve me. ²¹ Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people, and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. ²² But on that day ^(U)I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, ^(V)that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.^{[e] 23} Thus I will put a division^[f] between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen.”’” ²⁴ And the Lord did so. ^(W)There came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses. Throughout all the land of Egypt the land was ruined by the swarms of flies.

²⁵ Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” ²⁶ But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an ^(X)abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings ^(Y)abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? ²⁷ We must go ^(Z)three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God ^(AA)as he tells us.” ²⁸ So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you must not go very far away. ^(AB)Plead for me.” ²⁹ Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you and I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh ^(AC)cheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” ³⁰ So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. ³¹ And the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained. ³² But Pharaoh ^(AD)hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go.

The Fifth Plague: Egyptian Livestock Die

9 Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(AE)“Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says ^(AF)the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. ² For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, ³ behold, ^(AG)the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. ^4 (AH)But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.”’” ⁵ And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” ⁶ And the next day the Lord did this thing. ^(AI)All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. ⁷ And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But ^(AJ)the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

The Sixth Plague: Boils

⁸ And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. ⁹ It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become ^(AK)boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. ¹¹ And ^(AL)the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. ^12 (AM)But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as ^(AN)the Lord had spoken to Moses.

The Seventh Plague: Hail

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(AO)“Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. ¹⁴ For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself,^[g] and on your servants and your people, so ^(AP)that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. ¹⁵ For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. ^16 (AQ)But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so ^(AR)that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. ^17 (AS)You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. ¹⁸ Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. ¹⁹ Now therefore send, ^(AT)get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.”’” ²⁰ Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, ²¹ but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field.

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be ^(AU)hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant of the field, in the land of Egypt.” ²³ Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the ^(AV)Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. ²⁴ There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. ²⁵ The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail ^(AW)struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. ^26 (AX)Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.

²⁷ Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time ^(AY)I have sinned; the ^(AZ)Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. ^28 (BA)Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” ²⁹ Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, ^(BB)I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that ^(BC)the earth is the Lord's. ³⁰ But as for you and your servants, ^(BD)I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” ³¹ (The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. ³² But the wheat and the emmer^[h] were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.) ³³ So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and ^(BE)stretched out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. ³⁴ But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and ^(BF)hardened his heart, ^(BG)he and his servants. ³⁵ So ^(BH)the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.

Paul in Ephesus

19 And it happened that while ^(A)Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed ^(B)through the inland^[a] country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. ² And he said to them, ^(C)“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, ^(D)we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” ³ And he said, ^(E)“Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into ^(F)John's baptism.” ⁴ And Paul said, ^(G)“John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people ^(H)to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” ⁵ On hearing this, ^(I)they were baptized in^[b] the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ And ^(J)when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and ^(K)they began speaking in tongues and ^(L)prophesying. ⁷ There were about twelve men in all.

⁸ And ^(M)he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them ^(N)about the kingdom of God. ^9 (O)But when some became stubborn and ^(P)continued in unbelief, speaking evil of ^(Q)the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.^{[c] 10} This continued for ^(R)two years, so that ^(S)all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

The Sons of Sceva

¹¹ And ^(T)God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, ^12 (U)so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and ^(V)the evil spirits came out of them. ¹³ Then some of the itinerant Jewish ^(W)exorcists ^(X)undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ^(Y)“I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. ¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, ^(Z)“Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” ¹⁶ And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all^[d] of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and ^(AA)the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. ¹⁸ Also many of those who were now believers came, ^(AB)confessing and divulging their practices. ¹⁹ And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So the word of the Lord ^(AC)continued to increase and prevail mightily.

A Riot at Ephesus

²¹ Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit ^(AD)to pass through ^(AE)Macedonia and Achaia and ^(AF)go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, ^(AG)I must also see Rome.” ²² And having sent into Macedonia two of ^(AH)his helpers, ^(AI)Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia ^(AJ)for a while.