Beginning

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I might show these signs of Mine before him, ² in order that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your son’s son, what things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

³ Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me. ⁴ For if you refuse to let My people go, indeed, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. ⁵ And they shall cover the face of the earth, such that no one will be able to see the earth. What’s more, they shall eat the remainder of that which has escaped—that which remains to you from the hail—and shall eat every tree which grows for you out of the field. ⁶ And they shall fill your houses, and 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 until this day.’ ” And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

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

⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God! But who are the ones that shall go?”

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 will we go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.”

¹⁰ Then he said to them, “The Lord indeed be with you when I let you and your little ones go. Beware, for evil is before you. ¹¹ Not so! Go now, you that are men, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desire.” Then they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come up upon the land of Egypt and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail has left.”

¹³ So Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt; then the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. And when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. ¹⁴ The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled down in all the territory of Egypt. They were very grievous. Never before had there been such locusts as they, nor would there be such ever again. ¹⁵ For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened, and they ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. As a result, nothing green remained there in the trees or herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste and said, “I have sinned against the Lord, your God, and against you. ¹⁷ Now therefore please forgive my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, so that He may take away from me this death only.”

¹⁸ So he went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. ¹⁹ Then the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts and threw them into the Red Sea. Not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt. ²⁰ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the heavens, so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness which may be felt.” ²² So Moses stretched forth his hand toward the heavens, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. ²³ They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

²⁴ Then Pharaoh called to Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord. Only let your flocks and your herds be detained. Even let your little ones also go with you.”

²⁵ But Moses said, “You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. ²⁶ Our livestock will go with us also. Not a hoof will be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God. And we do not know with what we must serve the Lord, until we get there.”

²⁷ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. ²⁸ So Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Watch yourself, do not see my face anymore; for in the day you see my face you shall die.”

²⁹ Then Moses said, “As you wish. I will never see your face again.”

Warning of the Final Plague

11 Now the Lord said to Moses, “I will still bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt. Afterwards he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he shall surely thrust you out from here altogether. ² Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold.” ³ Then the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people.

⁴ Moses said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt, ⁵ and 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 maidservant that is behind the mill, as well as all the firstborn of beasts. ⁶ Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor shall ever be again. ⁷ But against any of the children of Israel a dog will not even move his tongue, against man or beast, in order that you may know how that the Lord distinguishes between Egypt and Israel.’ ⁸ Then all these your servants shall come down to me and bow themselves to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh shall not listen to you so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

The Passover Instituted^(A)

12 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: ² This month shall be the beginning of months to you. It shall be the first month of the year to you. ³ Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: On the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a household. ⁴ And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to what each man shall eat, divide the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats. ⁶ You shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. ⁷ They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two side posts and on the upper doorpost of the houses in which they shall eat it. ⁸ They shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹ Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire, its head with its legs and its entrails. ¹⁰ And you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, but that of it which remains until the morning you shall burn with fire. ¹¹ In this way shall you eat it: with your waist girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. ¹³ The blood shall be to you for a sign on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ This day shall be a memorial to you, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord. Throughout your generations you shall keep it a feast by an eternal ordinance. ¹⁵ Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which every man must eat—that only may be prepared for you.

¹⁷ You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For on this very day I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an ordinance forever. ¹⁸ In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ¹⁹ Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land. ²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.

²¹ Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Draw out and take for yourselves a lamb according to your families and kill the Passover lamb. ²² You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin, and none of you shall go out from the door of his house until the morning. ²³ For the Lord will pass through to kill the Egyptians. And when He sees the blood upon the lintel and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not permit the destroyer to come to your houses to kill you.

²⁴ “And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. ²⁵ When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, according as He has promised, that you shall observe this service. ²⁶ And when your children shall say to you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ ²⁷ that you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our households.’ ” And the people bowed down and worshipped. ²⁸ Then the children of Israel went and did so. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

²⁹ At midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of livestock. ³⁰ Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not someone dead.

The Exodus

³¹ Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, and get out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel, and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. ³² Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also.”

³³ The Egyptians urged the people, so that they might send them out of the land in haste, for they said, “We all will be dead.” ³⁴ So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. ³⁵ Now the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and they requested of the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing. ³⁶ And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they gave them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. ³⁸ A mixed multitude also went up with them along with flocks and herds, a large amount of livestock. ³⁹ They baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened because they were driven out of Egypt and could not linger, nor had they prepared for themselves any food.

⁴⁰ Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. ⁴¹ And at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, on the very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴² It is a night to be observed to the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night for the Lord to be observed by all the children of Israel in their generations.

The Ordinance of Passover

⁴³ So the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: This is the ordinance of the Passover:

No foreigner may eat of it. ⁴⁴ But every man’s servant bought with money, when you have circumcised him, may eat it. ⁴⁵ A foreigner or a hired servant shall not eat it.

⁴⁶ In one house shall it be eaten. You shall not carry any of the flesh outside of the house, nor shall you break a bone of it. ⁴⁷ All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.

⁴⁸ Now when a stranger sojourns with you and keeps the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. And he shall be as one that is born in the land. However, no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. ⁴⁹ The same law shall apply to him that is a native and to the stranger who sojourns among you.

⁵⁰ So all the children of Israel did it. They did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ And that same day the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.