Old/New Testament
5: Death of animals
9 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “The Lord, the God of the Israelites says this: Let my people go so that they may worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, you will have more trouble. If you still keep them in Egypt, 3 the Lord will punish you. He will send a very bad illness on all your animals. Your animals in the fields, your horses, donkeys, camels, cows, sheep and goats will all become very ill. 4 But the Lord will make a difference between the animals of the Israelites and the animals of the Egyptians. None of the animals of the Israelites will die.” ’
5 The Lord decided when this would happen. He said, ‘Tomorrow I will make this happen in the land of Egypt.’ 6 So on the next day, the Lord did it! All the animals of the Egyptians died. But not one of the animals of the Israelites died. 7 Pharaoh sent his men to see what had happened. They saw that not one of the animals of the Israelites was dead! But Pharaoh's mind was still hard. He did not let the people go.
6: Boils
8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Take in your hands some ashes from an oven. Throw them up in the air as Pharaoh watches. 9 They will become very small dust over the whole country of Egypt. The dust will cause boils to appear on the skin of people and animals. It will happen all over Egypt.’
10 So they took ashes from an oven and they stood in front of Pharaoh. Moses threw the ashes up in the air. Then bad boils appeared on both people and animals. 11 All the Egyptians had boils, even the magicians. Because of the boils, the magicians could not stand in front of Moses. 12 But Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. The Lord caused Pharaoh's mind to be hard. The Lord had told Moses that this would happen, and it did!
7: Hail
13 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and go to Pharaoh. Say to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Israelites says: Let my people go to worship me. 14 This time, I will send all my troubles to punish you. I will send them against you, your officers and your people. I want you to know that there is nobody as great as me in the whole earth. That is why I am doing this. 15 Already I could have used my power to destroy you and your people. With one very bad trouble, I could have removed you from the earth. 16 But I have let you live, to show you my power. Then people all over the world will know how great I am. 17 You are still too proud to let my people go.
18 Look! Tomorrow at this time, I will send a very great storm of hail. Nobody has ever seen hail fall like this in Egypt before now. From Egypt's first day as a country until today, nobody has seen a storm like this. 19 Now send your servants out to tell this message to your people. You must bring into your houses all your animals from the fields to be safe. The hail will fall on every person and on every animal that is still outside. They will all die.” ’
20 Some of Pharaoh's officers were afraid of what the Lord said he would do. So they quickly brought their servants and animals inside their houses. 21 But others did not believe the Lord's message. They left their servants and animals outside in the fields.
22 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Lift up your hand towards the sky. Then hail will fall over all the country of Egypt. It will fall on people and on animals. It will fall on all the plants that grow in the fields of Egypt.’
23 When Moses lifted up his stick towards the sky, the Lord sent a great storm. He sent thunder, hail and lightning. 24 The hail fell and there was lightning like fire. It was the worst storm anywhere in Egypt since Egypt had become a nation. 25 Everywhere in Egypt, the hail knocked down everything that was in the fields. It knocked down both people and animals. It knocked down all the plants in the fields and it broke all the trees. 26 But no hail fell in the region of Goshen, where the Israelites lived.
27 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron to come to him. He said to them, ‘This time, I have done a bad thing. The Lord is right. I and my people are guilty. 28 The storms with the thunder and the hail are too much for us! Pray to the Lord to take them away. Then I will let you go! You do not need to stay any longer in Egypt.’
29 Then Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘As soon as I leave the city, I will lift my hands to the Lord and I will pray to him. The storm will stop and there will be no more hail. Then you will know that the whole world belongs to the Lord. 30 But I know you and your officers. You still do not respect the Lord God.’[a]
31 At that time, the barley was ripe in the fields and the flax was nearly ripe. So the storm of hail destroyed the flax and the barley. 32 But the hail did not destroy the wheat and other grains. Those crops become ripe later in the year.[b]
33 Then Moses left Pharaoh and he went out of the city. He lifted up his hands to the Lord and he prayed. Then the storms and the hail stopped. The heavy rain stopped falling on the earth.
34 Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the storms had stopped. So he did a bad thing again. His mind and his officers' minds became hard. 35 Pharaoh still refused to obey God. He did not let the Israelites go. The Lord had told Moses that this would happen, and it did!
8: Locusts
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to see Pharaoh. I have caused his mind to become hard. I have also caused his officers' minds to become hard. I have done this so that I can do miracles to show him my power. 2 In the future, you can tell your children and your children's children how I punished the Egyptians. You can tell them about the miracles that I did among the Egyptians. In this way, you will know that I am the Lord.’
3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They said to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Israelites says this: “You are still too proud to obey me. Let my people go so that they may worship me. 4 If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. 5 They will cover the whole country. Nobody will be able to see the ground. They will eat everything that the hail did not destroy. They will eat any crops that you still have. That will include every tree that is growing in your fields. 6 They will fill your houses, and your officers' houses. They will fill all the houses in Egypt! It will be worse than anything that your fathers or your grandfathers have ever seen. Nothing like this has ever happened in Egypt before now.” ’ Then Moses turned away and left Pharaoh.
7 Pharaoh's officers said to him, ‘Will you let this man bring trouble to us for ever? Allow the people to go. Then they can worship the Lord their God. Surely you understand by now that this man has destroyed Egypt!’
8 So Pharaoh's officers took Moses and Aaron back to him. Pharaoh said to them, ‘Go and worship the Lord your God. But tell me, who will go?’
9 Moses said, ‘We will all go, both young people and old people. We will take our sons and daughters. We will also take our animals, because we must have a feast to worship the Lord.’
10 Pharaoh said to them, ‘No! If I let you go with your families like that, you will need the Lord to take care of you! I can see that you want to make trouble. 11 No! If you really want to go and worship the Lord, only the men can go.’ Pharaoh was angry and he told Moses and Aaron to go away.[c]
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Lift up your hand over the country of Egypt. Then locusts will fly all over the land. They will eat every plant that grows in the ground. They will eat everything that the hail has not destroyed.’
13 So Moses lifted up his stick over the country of Egypt. Then the Lord caused an east wind to blow across the land, for the whole day and the whole night. In the morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. 14 The locusts flew into every part of the country of Egypt. Thousands of locusts sat on everything. There had never been so many locusts in Egypt before. And it will never happen again. 15 The locusts covered all the ground, until the ground became black with locusts. They ate all the plants that grew in the ground, and all the fruit of the trees. They ate everything that the hail had not destroyed. Not one green thing remained on any tree or plant, in all the country of Egypt.
16 Then Pharaoh quickly called Moses and Aaron to come to him. He said, ‘I have done bad things against the Lord your God and against you. 17 Please forgive my sins just one more time. Ask the Lord your God to remove this punishment of death from me.’
18 Moses left Pharaoh and he prayed to the Lord. 19 Then the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind. This wind lifted the locusts up and it blew them away into the Red Sea.[d] Not one locust remained in all the country of Egypt. 20 But the Lord caused Pharaoh's mind to become hard again. Pharaoh would not let the Israelites go.
9: Darkness
21 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Lift up your hand towards the sky. Then it will become dark over the whole country of Egypt. It will be so dark that people will be able to feel it.’ 22 So Moses lifted up his hand towards the sky and it became completely dark. It was dark through the whole country of Egypt for three days. 23 People could not see each other. Nobody could move anywhere for three days. But the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.
24 Then Pharaoh called Moses to come to him. He said, ‘Go and worship the Lord. Even your families may go with you. Only your animals must remain in Egypt.’
25 But Moses said, ‘Then you will have to give us animals for our sacrifices and burnt offerings. We need our animals to offer to the Lord our God.[e] 26 So we must take our animals with us. Not one animal can remain behind. We must take them to worship the Lord our God. Until we arrive in the desert, we will not know which animals to use as sacrifices.’
27 But the Lord caused Pharaoh's mind to be hard. Pharaoh would not agree to let the Israelites go. 28 Pharaoh said to Moses, ‘Go away from me! Be careful not to come back! I never want to see you again! On the day that you see my face, you will die!’
29 Moses replied, ‘You are right! You will never see me again.’
10: Death
11 The Lord said to Moses, ‘I will cause Pharaoh and Egypt to have one more trouble. Then Pharaoh will let you go out of Egypt. He will cause you to leave very quickly and go away from him. 2 So tell the Israelite people now what they must do. Every man and every woman must ask the Egyptians that live near them for gold things and silver things.’
3 The Lord caused the Egyptians to be kind to the Israelite people. As for Moses himself, Pharaoh's officers and the Egyptian people respected him as an important man.
4 So Moses went to the king and he said, ‘The Lord God says this: “At about midnight, I will travel through the whole country of Egypt. 5 I will cause all the firstborn sons in Egypt to die. The firstborn son of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, will die. The firstborn son of the female slave who makes flour, will die. Even the firstborn of the farm animals will die.[f] 6 Everyone will be crying loudly in the whole country of Egypt. Nothing like that has ever happened before now, and it will never happen again. 7 But no trouble will happen to the Israelite people. Not even a dog will frighten them or their animals. Then you will know that I, the Lord, make a difference between Egypt and Israel.” ’
8 Moses continued to say to the king, ‘All your officers will come to me. They will fall down in front of me and they will say, “Now go! Leave here with all your people.” After that, I will leave.’
After he said that, Moses left Pharaoh. Moses was very angry.
9 The Lord had already said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you. But that will give me the chance to do even greater miracles in Egypt.’
10 Moses and Aaron did all these miracles in front of Pharaoh. But the Lord caused Pharaoh's mind to be hard. So Pharaoh would not let the Israelites leave his country.
Jesus makes a girl well again
21 Then, Jesus left that place. He went away to some places near to the cities called Tyre and Sidon.
22 A woman was living in this part of the country. She was one of the Canaanite people. She came to see Jesus. She was shouting with a loud voice, ‘Son of David, help me, sir! A bad spirit is living inside my daughter. It is giving her much pain.’
23 Jesus did not say anything to the woman. So his disciples came to him. They said, ‘Please, send this woman away. She is following us and she is making a lot of noise.’
24 Jesus replied to his disciples, ‘God has sent me to help only the people of Israel. They are like sheep that have lost their way.’
25 Then the woman came to Jesus and she went down on her knees in front of him. ‘Sir, please help me,’ she said.
26 Jesus did answer the woman this time. He said, ‘It is not right to take food from the children and then throw it to the dogs.’
27 The woman replied to Jesus. ‘Yes sir, that is true. But even the dogs eat the small pieces of food that fall from their master's table.’
28 Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, you show clearly that you believe in God. God will do what you have asked.’
At that moment the woman's daughter became well again.
29 Jesus travelled on from that place and he walked along the shore of Lake Galilee. He climbed up a hill and he sat down there. 30 Large crowds of people came to him and they brought sick people with them. Some of these sick people could not walk very well, and some of them were blind. Some of them could not use their arms or their legs. Some of them could not speak. There were many other sick people who had different illnesses. Their friends put the sick people in front of Jesus. And Jesus caused them all to become well again. 31 When the large crowd saw all this, they were very surprised. People who could not speak could now speak again. People who could not use their arms or their legs were now well again. Those people who could not walk very well could now walk again. Blind people could now see again. All the people praised God, and they said, ‘God of Israel, you are great.’
Jesus feeds 4,000 men and their families
32 Then Jesus told his disciples to come to him. ‘I feel sorry for this crowd,’ he said to them. ‘They have been here with me now for three days. They do not have any food. I do not want to send them away while they are hungry. They might fall down during their journey because they are weak.’
33 The disciples said to Jesus, ‘This place is a long way from any houses. We cannot get enough bread here to feed so many people.’
34 Jesus asked them, ‘How many loaves of bread do you have?’
They replied, ‘We have seven loaves and a few small fish.’
35 Jesus told the crowd that they should sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish in his hands and he thanked God for them. Then he broke the bread and the fish into pieces and he gave the food to his disciples. The disciples gave the food to the people. 37 All the people ate and they all had enough food. After the people had eaten, there were still lots of small pieces of food. Jesus' disciples filled seven baskets with these pieces. 38 There were 4,000 men who ate the bread and fish. There were also women and children who ate. 39 Then Jesus sent the crowd of people away. After that, he got into the boat and sailed to the part of the country near Magadan.[a]
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.