Exodus 10:1-20
New American Standard Bible
The Plague of Locusts
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for (A)I have [a]hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, so that I may [b]perform these signs of Mine [c]among them, 2 and (B)that you may tell in the [d]presence of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I [e]performed My signs among them, (C)so that you may know that I am the Lord.”
3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews says: ‘How long will you refuse to (D)humble yourself before Me? (E)Let My people go, so that they may serve Me. 4 For if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. 5 And they will cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. (F)They will also eat the rest of what has survived—what is left to you from the hail—and they will eat every tree of yours which grows [f]in the field. 6 Then (G)your houses will be filled with them, [g]together with the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians, something which neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day that they [h]came upon the earth until this day.’” And he turned and left Pharaoh. 7 Then (H)Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be (I)a snare to us? Let the [i]people go, so that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet [j]realize that Egypt is destroyed?” 8 So Moses and Aaron (J)were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “(K)Go, serve the Lord your God! [k]Who specifically are the ones who are going?” 9 Moses said, “(L)We shall go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, (M)with our flocks and our herds we shall go, for we [l]must hold a feast to the Lord.” 10 Then he said to them, “So may the Lord be with you, when I let you and your little ones go! Watch out, for evil is [m]on your mind! 11 Not so! Go now, but only the men among you, and serve the Lord, since [n]that is what you desire.” So (N)they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “(O)Reach out with your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come up on the land of Egypt and (P)eat every plant of the land, everything that the hail has left.” 13 So Moses reached out with his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord directed an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind [o]brought the (Q)locusts. 14 (R)The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled in all the territory of Egypt; they were very [p]numerous. There had never been so many [q]locusts, nor would there be so many [r]again. 15 For they covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was darkened; and they (S)ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Therefore nothing green was left on tree or plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt. 16 Then Pharaoh hurriedly (T)called for Moses and Aaron, and he said, “(U)I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. 17 So now, please forgive my sin only this once, and (V)plead with the Lord your God, that He would only remove this death from me.” 18 Then (W)he left Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. 19 So the Lord shifted the wind to a very strong west wind, which picked up the locusts and drove them into the [s]Red Sea; not one locust was left in all the territory of Egypt. 20 But (X)the Lord [t]hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Exodus 10:1 Lit made heavy
- Exodus 10:1 Lit put
- Exodus 10:1 Lit in his midst
- Exodus 10:2 Lit ears
- Exodus 10:2 Lit put
- Exodus 10:5 Lit from
- Exodus 10:6 Lit and the
- Exodus 10:6 Lit were
- Exodus 10:7 Or men
- Exodus 10:7 Lit know
- Exodus 10:8 Lit Who and who are
- Exodus 10:9 Lit have a feast
- Exodus 10:10 Lit before your face
- Exodus 10:11 Lit you desire it
- Exodus 10:13 Lit carried
- Exodus 10:14 Lit heavy
- Exodus 10:14 Lit locusts like them before them
- Exodus 10:14 Lit after them
- Exodus 10:19 Lit Sea of Reeds
- Exodus 10:20 Lit made strong
Exodus 10:1-20
Common English Bible
Invasion of locusts
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. I’ve made him and his officials stubborn so that I can show them my signs 2 and so that you can tell your children and grandchildren how I overpowered the Egyptians with the signs I did among them. You will know that I am the Lord.”
3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the Hebrews’ God, says: How long will you refuse to respect me? Let my people go so that they can worship me. 4 Otherwise, if you refuse to let my people go, I’m going to bring locusts into your country tomorrow. 5 They will cover the landscape so that you won’t be able to see the ground. They will eat the last bit of vegetation that was left after the hail. They will eat all your trees growing in the fields. 6 The locusts will fill your houses and all your officials’ houses and all the Egyptians’ houses. Your parents and even your grandparents have never seen anything like it during their entire lifetimes in this fertile land.” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.
7 Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man trap us in a corner like this? Let the people go so that they can worship the Lord their God. Don’t you get it? Egypt is being destroyed!”
8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go! Worship the Lord your God! But who exactly is going with you?”
9 Moses said, “We’ll go with our young and old, with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we all must observe the Lord’s festival.”
10 Pharaoh said to them, “Yes, the Lord will be with you, all right, especially if I let your children go with you! Obviously, you are plotting some evil scheme. 11 No way! Only your men can go and worship the Lord, because that’s what you asked for.” Then Pharaoh had them chased out of his presence.
12 Then the Lord said to Moses: “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt so that the locusts will swarm over the land of Egypt and eat all of the land’s grain and everything that the hail left.” 13 So Moses stretched out his shepherd’s rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow over the land all that day and all that night. When morning came, the east wind had carried in the locusts. 14 The locusts swarmed over the whole land of Egypt and settled on the whole country. Such a huge swarming of locusts had never happened before and would never happen ever again. 15 They covered the whole landscape so that the land turned black with them. They ate all of the land’s grain and all of the orchards’ fruit that the hail had left. Nothing green was left in any orchard or in any grain field in the whole land of Egypt.
16 Pharaoh called urgently for Moses and Aaron and said, “I’ve sinned against the Lord your God and against you. 17 Please forgive my sin this time. Pray to the Lord your God just to take this deathly disaster away from me.”
18 So Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. 19 The Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind that lifted the locusts and drove them into the Reed Sea.[a] Not a single locust was left in the whole country of Egypt. 20 But the Lord made Pharaoh stubborn so that he wouldn’t let the Israelites go.
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- Exodus 10:19 Or Red Sea
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