The Eighth Plague: Locusts^(A)

10 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; ^(B)for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, ^(C)that I may show these signs of Mine before him, ² and that ^(D)you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may ^(E)know that I am the Lord.”

³ So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to ^(F)humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may ^(G)serve Me. ⁴ Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring ^(H)locusts into your territory. ⁵ And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and ^(I)they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field. ⁶ They shall ^(J)fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians—which neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.’ ” And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

⁷ Then Pharaoh’s ^(K)servants said to him, “How long shall this man be ^(L)a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?”

⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that are going?”

⁹ And Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for ^(M)we must hold a feast to the Lord.”

¹⁰ Then he said to them, “The Lord had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go! Beware, for evil is ahead of you. ¹¹ Not so! Go now, you who are men, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desired.” And they were driven ^(N)out from Pharaoh’s presence.

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(O)“Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and ^(P)eat every herb of the land—all that the hail has left.” ¹³ So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. ¹⁴ And ^(Q)the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt. They were very severe; ^(R)previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them. ¹⁵ For they ^(S)covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ^(T)ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ Then Pharaoh called ^(U)for Moses and Aaron in haste, and said, ^(V)“I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. ¹⁷ Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and ^(W)entreat^[a] the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only.” ¹⁸ So he ^(X)went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. ¹⁹ And the Lord turned a very strong west wind, which took the locusts away and blew them ^(Y)into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the territory of Egypt. ²⁰ But the Lord ^(Z)hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(AA)“Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, ^[b]darkness which may even be felt.” ²² So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was ^(AB)thick darkness in all the land of Egypt ^(AC)three days. ²³ They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. ^(AD)But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

²⁴ Then Pharaoh called to Moses and ^(AE)said, “Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your ^(AF)little ones also go with you.”

²⁵ But Moses said, “You must also give ^[c]us sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. ²⁶ Our ^(AG)livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.”

²⁷ But the Lord ^(AH)hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. ²⁸ Then Pharaoh said to him, ^(AI)“Get away from me! Take heed to yourself and see my face no more! For in the day you see my face you shall die!”

²⁹ So Moses said, “You have spoken well. ^(AJ)I will never see your face again.”

Death of the Firstborn Announced^(AK)

11 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. ^(AL)Afterward he will let you go from here. ^(AM)When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether. ² Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, ^(AN)articles of silver and articles of gold.” ^3 (AO)And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man ^(AP)Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

⁴ Then Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ^(AQ)‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; ⁵ and ^(AR)all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. ^6 (AS)Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, ^(AT)such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. ^7 (AU)But against none of the children of Israel ^(AV)shall a dog ^[d]move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’ ⁸ And ^(AW)all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” ^(AX)Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

⁹ But the Lord said to Moses, ^(AY)“Pharaoh will not heed you, so that ^(AZ)My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; ^(BA)and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

The Passover Instituted^(BB)

12 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ^2 (BC)“This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. ³ Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the ^(BD)tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. ⁴ And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be ^(BE)without^[e] blemish, a male ^[f]of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶ Now you shall keep it until the ^(BF)fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. ⁷ And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. ⁸ Then they shall eat the flesh on that ^(BG)night; ^(BH)roasted in fire, with ^(BI)unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹ Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but ^(BJ)roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. ^10 (BK)You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. ¹¹ And thus you shall eat it: ^[g]with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. ^(BL)It is the Lord’s Passover.

¹² ‘For I ^(BM)will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and ^(BN)against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: ^(BO)I am the Lord. ¹³ Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴ and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. ⁵ Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. ⁶ And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing ^[a]idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, ^[b]and whatever is right you will receive.’

⁸ “So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ ⁹ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. ¹⁰ But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. ¹¹ And when they had received it, they ^[c]complained against the landowner, ¹² saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ ¹³ But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. ^15 (A)Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or ^(B)is your eye evil because I am good?’ ^16 (C)So the last will be first, and the first last. ^(D)For^[d] many are called, but few chosen.”

Jesus a Third Time Predicts His Death and Resurrection^(E)

^17 (F)Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, ^18 (G)“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, ^19 (H)and deliver Him to the Gentiles to ^(I)mock and to ^(J)scourge and to ^(K)crucify. And the third day He will ^(L)rise again.”

Greatness Is Serving^(M)

^20 (N)Then the mother of ^(O)Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.

²¹ And He said to her, “What do you wish?”

She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine ^(P)may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.”

²² But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink ^(Q)the cup that I am about to drink, ^[e]and be baptized with ^(R)the baptism that I am baptized with?”

They said to Him, “We are able.”

²³ So He said to them, ^(S)“You will indeed drink My cup, ^[f]and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”

^24 (T)And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. ²⁵ But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. ²⁶ Yet ^(U)it shall not be so among you; but ^(V)whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. ^27 (W)And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— ^28 (X)just as the ^(Y)Son of Man did not come to be served, ^(Z)but to serve, and ^(AA)to give His life a ransom ^(AB)for many.”

A Plea for Deliverance and Forgiveness

A Psalm of David.

The Folly of Indolence