Old/New Testament
The Disease on the Farm Animals
9 Then the Lord told Moses, “Go to the king of Egypt. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go to worship me. 2 You might refuse to let them go and continue to hold them. 3 Then the Lord will punish you. He will send a terrible disease on all your farm animals. He will cause all of your horses, donkeys, camels, cattle and sheep to become sick. 4 But the Lord will treat Israel’s animals differently from the animals of Egypt. None of the animals that belong to the Israelites will die. 5 The Lord has set tomorrow as the time he will do this in the land.’” 6 The next day the Lord did as he promised. All the farm animals in Egypt died. But none of the animals belonging to Israelites died. 7 The king sent people to see what had happened to the animals of Israel. They found that not one of them had died. But the king was still stubborn. He did not let the people go.
The Boils
8 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Fill your hands with the ashes from a furnace. Moses, throw the ashes into the air in front of the king of Egypt. 9 The ashes will spread like dust through all the land of Egypt. The dust will cause boils to break out and become sores on the skin. These sores will be on people and animals everywhere in the land.”
10 So Moses and Aaron took ashes from a furnace. Then they went and stood before the king. Moses threw ashes into the air. It caused boils to break out and become sores on people and animals. 11 The magicians could not stand before Moses. This was because all the Egyptians had boils, even the magicians. 12 But the Lord made the king stubborn. So he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. This happened just as the Lord had said.
The Hail
13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and go to the king of Egypt. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go to worship me. 14 If you do not do this, this time I will punish you with all my power. I will punish you, your officers and your people. Then you will know that there is no one in the whole land like me. 15 By now I could have used my power and caused a bad disease. It would have destroyed you and your people from the earth. 16 But I have let you live for this reason: to show you my power. In this way my name will be talked about in all the earth. 17 You are still against my people. You do not want to let them go. 18 So at this time tomorrow, I will send a terrible hailstorm. It will be the worst in Egypt since it became a nation. 19 Now send for your animals and whatever you have in the fields. Bring them into a safe place. The hail will fall on every person or animal that is still in the fields. If they have not been brought in, they will die.’” 20 Some of the king’s officers respected the word of the Lord. They hurried to bring their slaves and animals inside. 21 But others ignored the Lord’s message. They left their slaves and animals in the fields.
22 The Lord told Moses, “Raise your hand toward the sky. Then the hail will start falling over all the land of Egypt. It will fall on people, animals and on everything that grows in the fields of Egypt.” 23 So Moses raised his walking stick toward the sky. And the Lord sent thunder and hail. And lightning flashed down to the earth. So he caused hail to fall upon the land of Egypt. 24 There was hail, and there was lightning flashing as it hailed. This was the worst hailstorm in Egypt since it had become a nation. 25 The hail destroyed everything that was in the fields in all the land of Egypt. The hail destroyed both people and animals. It also destroyed everything that grew in the fields. It broke all the trees in the fields. 26 The only place it did not hail was in the land of Goshen. The people of Israel lived there.
27 The king sent for Moses and Aaron. He told them, “This time I have sinned. The Lord is in the right. And I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Pray to the Lord. We have had enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go. You do not have to stay here any longer.”
29 Moses told the king, “When I leave the city, I will raise my hands to the Lord in prayer. And the thunder and hail will stop. Then you will know that the earth belongs to the Lord. 30 But I know that you and your officers do not yet fear the Lord God.”
31 The flax was in bloom, and the barley had ripened. So these crops were destroyed. 32 But both wheat crops ripen later. So they were not destroyed.
33 Moses left the king and went outside the city. He raised his hands to the Lord. And the thunder and hail stopped. The rain also stopped falling to the ground. 34 The king saw that the rain, hail and thunder had stopped. Then he sinned again. He and his officers became stubborn again. 35 The king became stubborn and refused to let the Israelites go. This happened just as the Lord had said through Moses.
The Locusts
10 The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the king of Egypt. I have made him and his officers stubborn. I did this so I could show them my powerful miracles. 2 I also did this so you could tell your children and your grandchildren. Tell them how I made fools of the Egyptians. Tell them about the miracles I did among them. Then all of you will know that I am the Lord.”
3 So Moses and Aaron went to the king. They told him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to be sorry for what you have done? Let my people go to worship me. 4 If you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country. 5 They will cover the land, and no one will be able to see the ground. They will eat anything that was left from the hailstorm. They will eat the leaves from every tree growing in the field. 6 They will fill your palaces and all your officers’ houses. They will fill the houses of all the Egyptian people. There will be more locusts than your fathers or ancestors have ever seen. There will be more locusts than there have been since people began living in Egypt.’” Then Moses turned and walked away from the king.
7 The king’s officers asked him, “How long will this man make trouble for us? Let the Israelite men go to worship the Lord their God. Don’t you know that Egypt is ruined?”
8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to the king. He said to them, “Go and worship the Lord your God. But tell me, just who is going?”
9 Moses answered, “We will go with our young and our old people, our sons and daughters and sheep and cattle. This is because we are going to have a feast to honor the Lord.”
10 The king said to them, “The Lord really will have to be with you if ever I let you and all of your children leave Egypt. See, you are planning something evil. 11 No! Only the men may go and worship the Lord. That is what you have been asking for.” Then the king forced Moses and Aaron out of his palace.
12 The Lord told Moses, “Raise your hand over the land of Egypt, and the locusts will come. They will spread all over the land of Egypt. They will eat all the plants that the hail did not destroy.”
13 So Moses raised his walking stick over the land of Egypt. And the Lord caused a strong wind to blow from the east. It blew across the land all that day and night. When morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts. 14 Swarms of locusts covered all the land of Egypt and settled everywhere. There were more locusts than ever before or after. 15 The locusts covered the whole land so that it was black. They ate everything that was left after the hail. They ate every plant in the field and all the fruit on the trees. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant anywhere in Egypt.
16 The king quickly called for Moses and Aaron. He said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. 17 Now forgive my sin this time. Pray to the Lord your God. Ask him to stop this punishment that kills.”
18 Moses left the king and prayed to the Lord. 19 So the Lord changed the wind. He made a very strong wind to blow from the west. It blew the locusts away into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left anywhere in Egypt. 20 But the Lord caused the king to be stubborn again. And he did not let the people of Israel go.
The Darkness
21 Then the Lord told Moses, “Raise your hand toward the sky, and darkness will cover the land of Egypt. It will be so dark you will be able to feel it.” 22 So Moses raised his hand toward the sky. Then total darkness was everywhere in Egypt for three days. 23 No one could see anyone else. And no one could go anywhere for three days. But the Israelites had light where they lived.
24 Again the king of Egypt called for Moses. He said, “All of you may go and worship the Lord. You may take your women and children with you. But you must leave your sheep and cattle here.”
25 Moses said, “You must let us have animals to use as sacrifices and burnt offerings. We have to offer them to the Lord our God. 26 So we must take our animals with us. Not a hoof will be left behind. We have to use some of the animals to worship the Lord our God. We do not yet know exactly what we will need to worship the Lord. We will know when we get there.”
27 But the Lord made the king stubborn again. So he refused to let them go. 28 Then he told Moses, “Get out of here! Don’t come here again! The next time you see me, you will die.”
29 Then Moses told the king, “I’ll do what you say. I will not come to see you again.”
The Death of the Firstborn
11 Now the Lord had told Moses, “I have one more way to punish the king and the people of Egypt. After this, the king will send all of you away from Egypt. When he does, he will force you to leave completely. 2 Tell the men and women of Israel to ask their neighbors for things made of silver and gold.” 3 The Lord had caused the Egyptians to respect the Israelites. The king’s officers and the Egyptian people already considered Moses to be a great man.
4 So Moses said to the king, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight tonight I will go through all Egypt. 5 Every firstborn son in the land of Egypt will die. The firstborn son of the king, who sits on his throne, will die. Even the firstborn of the slave girl grinding grain will die. Also the firstborn farm animals will die. 6 There will be loud crying everywhere in Egypt. It will be worse than any time before or after this. 7 But not even a dog will bark at the Israelites or their animals.’ Then you will know that the Lord treats Israel differently from Egypt. 8 Then all your officers will come to me. They will bow facedown to the ground before me. They will say, ‘Leave and take all your people with you.’ After that, I will leave.” Then Moses very angrily left the king.
9 The Lord had told Moses, “The king will not listen to you and Aaron. This is so that I may do many miracles in the land of Egypt.” 10 Moses and Aaron did all these great miracles in front of the king. But the Lord made him stubborn. And the king would not let the people of Israel leave his country.
Jesus Helps a Non-Jewish Woman
21 Jesus left that place and went to the area of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that area came to Jesus. The woman cried out, “Lord, Son of David, please help me! My daughter has a demon, and she is suffering very much.”
23 But Jesus did not answer the woman. So the followers came to Jesus and begged him, “Tell the woman to go away. She is following us and shouting.”
24 Jesus answered, “God sent me only to the lost sheep, the people of Israel.”
25 Then the woman came to Jesus again. She bowed before him and said, “Lord, help me!”
26 Jesus answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs.”
27 The woman said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the pieces of food that fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! I will do what you asked me to do.” And at that moment the woman’s daughter was healed.
Jesus Heals Many People
29 Then Jesus left that place and went to the shore of Lake Galilee. He went up on a hill and sat there.
30 Great crowds came to Jesus. They brought their sick with them: the lame, the blind, the crippled, the dumb and many others. They put them at Jesus’ feet, and he healed them. 31 The crowd was amazed when they saw that people who could not speak were able to speak again. The crippled were made strong again. Those who could not walk were able to walk again. The blind were able to see again. And they praised the God of Israel for this.
More Than 4,000 People Fed
32 Jesus called his followers to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been with me three days, and now they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry. They might faint while going home.”
33 His followers asked him, “Where can we get enough bread to feed all these people? We are far away from any town.”
34 Jesus asked, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”
They answered, “We have seven loaves and a few small fish.”
35 Jesus told the people to sit on the ground. 36 He took the seven loaves of bread and the fish and gave thanks to God for the food. Then Jesus divided the food and gave it to his followers. They gave the food to the people. 37 All the people ate and were satisfied. After this, the followers filled seven baskets with the pieces of food that were not eaten. 38 There were about 4,000 men there who ate, besides women and children. 39 After they ate, Jesus told the people to go home. He got into the boat and went to the area of Magadan.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.