¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may come upon it and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.”^{(A) 13} So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts. ¹⁴ The locusts came upon all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before nor ever shall be again.^{(B) 15} They covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was black, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on the trees or on the plants in the fields, in all the land of Egypt.^(C)

³ Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given authority like the authority of scorpions of the earth.^{(A) 4} They were told not to damage the grass of the earth or any green growth or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.^{(B) 5} They were allowed to torment them for five months but not to kill them, and the agony suffered was like that caused by a scorpion when it stings someone.^{(C) 6} And in those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.^(D)

⁷ In appearance the locusts were like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces,^{(E) 8} their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth;^{(F) 9} they had scales like iron breastplates, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.^{(G) 10} They have tails like scorpions, with stingers, and in their tails is their power to harm people for five months.