NSB(i)
1 Then Jehovah said to Moses: »Approach Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Jehovah says: »Let My people go, that they may serve me.
2 »‘»But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will afflict your whole territory with frogs.
3 »‘»The Nile will swarm with frogs. They will come up and go into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed. They will go into the houses of your servants and on your people, and into your ovens and into your kneading bowls.
4 »‘»The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your servants.«’«
5 Jehovah also said to Moses: »Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the streams and over the pools. Make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’«
6 »So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt. The frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
7 »But the magicians used their secret powers to do the same thing.
8 »The king sent for Moses and Aaron and told them: If you ask Jehovah to take these frogs away from me and my people, I will let your people go and offer sacrifices to him.«
9 Moses answered: »You choose the time when I am to pray for the frogs to stop bothering you, your officials, and your people, and for them to leave your houses and be found only in the river.«
10 The king replied: »Do it tomorrow!« »As you wish:« Moses agreed. »Then everyone will discover that there is no god like Jehovah!
11 »The frogs will no longer be found anywhere, except in the Nile.«
12 Moses and Aaron left the palace. Moses begged Jehovah to do something about the frogs he had sent as punishment for the king.
13 Jehovah did as Moses asked. The frogs in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields died.
14 The Egyptians piled them up in large mounds, until the land began to stink with them.
15 The king saw that the frogs were dead. He became stubborn again and, just as Jehovah had said, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron.
16 Jehovah said to Moses: »Tell Aaron, »Strike the ground with your stick. The dust will change into gnats in all of Egypt.’«
17 So Aaron struck the ground with his stick. The dust in Egypt was turned into gnats. They swarmed over the people and the animals.
18 The magicians tried to use their magic to make gnats appear, but they failed. There were gnats everywhere!
19 The magicians said to the king: »It is the finger of God!« (God has done this!) But the king was stubborn. Just as Jehovah predicted, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron.
20 Jehovah said to Moses: »Early tomorrow morning, go and meet the king as he goes to the river. Tell him that Jehovah says: ‘Let my people go, so that they can serve me.
21 »‘»I warn you that if you refuse, I will punish you by sending flies on you, your officials, and your people. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies. The ground will be covered with them.
22 »‘»At that same time I will cut off the land of Goshen where my people live. No swarms of flies shall be there. / Then you will know that I am Jehovah in the midst of the earth.
23 »‘»I will put a dividing line between my people and your people. This sign will happen tomorrow.«’«
24 Jehovah did what he said. Dense swarms of flies came into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials. All over Egypt the flies ruined everything.
25 Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. He said: »Go, sacrifice to your God here in this country.«
26 Moses replied: »It is not right to do that. The sacrifices we offer to Jehovah our God are disgusting to Egyptians. If they see us offer sacrifices that they consider disgusting, will they not stone us to death?
27 »We need to travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to Jehovah our God, as he told us to do.«
28 Pharaoh said: »I will let you go, but do not go far. You may offer sacrifices to Jehovah your God in the desert and pray for me.«
29 Moses answered: »As soon as I leave you, I will pray to Jehovah. Tomorrow the swarms of flies will go away from you, your officials, and your people. But you must stop tricking us by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to Jehovah.«
30 Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to Jehovah.
31 Jehovah did what Moses asked. The swarms of flies left Pharaoh, his officials, and his people. Not a single fly was left.
32 Again Pharaoh was stubborn and did not let the people go.
9 1 Then Jehovah said to Moses: »Go to Pharaoh, and tell him, this is what Jehovah the God of the Hebrews says: Let my people go to serve me.
2 »If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them in slavery,
3 Jehovah will bring a terrible plague on your livestock, including your horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep, and goats.
4 »‘»Jehovah will distinguish between Israel’s livestock and the livestock of the Egyptians. The animals belonging to the Israelites will not die.«’«
5 Jehovah set a definite time: »I, Jehovah, choose tomorrow as the time when I will do this.«
6 The next day Jehovah did as he had said. The Egyptian’s animals all died. Not one of the animals of the Israelites died.
7 The king asked what had happened. He was told that none of the animals of the Israelites had died. He was stubborn and would not let the people go.
8 Then Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron: »Take a few handfuls of ashes from a furnace. Moses is to throw them into the air in front of the king.
9 »They will spread out like fine dust over all the land of Egypt. They will produce boils that become open sores on the people and the animals.«
10 They got some ashes and stood before the king. Moses threw them into the air. They produced boils that became open sores on the people and the animals.
11 The magicians were not able to appear before Moses, because they were covered with boils, like all the other Egyptians.
12 Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he did not listen to Moses and Aaron. Everything happened just as Jehovah had told Moses.
13 Jehovah told Moses to get up early the next morning and say to the king: »God of the Hebrews commands you to let his people go, so they can serve him!
14 »If you do not, he will send his worst plagues to strike you, your officials, and everyone else in your country. Then you will find out that no one can oppose Jehovah.
15 »He could already have sent a terrible disease and wiped you from the face of the earth.
16 »I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you my power and in order to proclaim my name through all the earth.
17 »Still you exalt yourself against my people by not letting them go.
18 »At this time tomorrow, I will send a very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.
19 »Bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety. Every man and beast that is found in the field and is not brought home will die from the hail.«
20 The ones among the servants of Pharaoh who respected the word of Jehovah made his servants and his livestock flee into the houses.
21 He who paid no regard to the word of Jehovah left his servants and his livestock in the field.
22 Jehovah said to Moses: »Stretch out your hand toward the sky. Hail will fall on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every plant of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.«
23 Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky. Then Jehovah sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. Jehovah rained hail on the land of Egypt.
24 It hailed, and lightning flashed while it hailed. This was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.
25 All over Egypt the hail knocked down everything that was out in the open. It struck down people, animals, and every plant in the fields and destroyed every tree in the fields.
26 The region of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was the only place where there was no hail.
27 The king sent for Moses and Aaron and said: »This time I have sinned. Jehovah is in the right. My people and I are in the wrong.
28 »Pray to Jehovah! We have had enough of this thunder and hail! I promise to let you go. You do not have to stay here any longer.«
29 Moses said to him: »As soon as I go out of the city, I will lift up my hands in prayer to Jehovah. The thunder will stop. There will be no more hail. Thus you may know that the earth belongs to Jehovah.
30 »But I know that you and your servants do not yet respect Jehovah God.«
31 The flax and the barley were ruined, because the barley was ripe, and the flax was budding.
32 But the wheat crops ripen later, and they were not damaged.
33 Moses left the royal palace and the city. He lifted his arms in prayer to Jehovah. The thunder, hail, and drenching rain stopped.
34 The king realized that the storm was over. He disobeyed once more. He and his officials were so stubborn
35 that he refused to let the Israelites go. This was exactly what Jehovah said would happen.
10 1 Jehovah told Moses: »Go back to the king. I have made him and his officials stubborn, so that I could work these signs.
2 »I did this because I want you to tell your children and your grandchildren about the mighty things and the signs I have done in Egypt. Then all of you will know that I am Jehovah.«
3 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him: »Thus says Jehovah, 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 »‘If you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.
5 »‘They shall cover the surface of the land. No one will be able to see the land. They will also eat the rest of what has escaped and is left to you from the hail. They will eat every tree that sprouts for you out of the field.
6 »‘Your houses shall be filled and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians. This is something neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day that they came upon the earth until this day. He turned and went out from Pharaoh.’«
7 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 Jehovah their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?«
8 Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh. He said to them: »Go! Serve Jehovah your God. Who are the ones that shall go?«
9 Moses said: »We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters. We will go with our flocks and with our herds. We must hold a feast to Jehovah.«
10 He said to them: »May Jehovah be with you, as I send you and your little ones away. Watch out for evil is before you.
11 »Not so! You men go now and serve Jehovah. It is you who desired it.« So they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
12 Jehovah said to Moses: »Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts. Let them come up upon the land of Egypt and eat every herb of the land, all that the hail has left.«
13 Moses held his staff over the land of Egypt. Jehovah made a wind from the east blow over the land all that day and all that night. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts.
14 They invaded all of Egypt and landed all over the country in great swarms. Never before had there been so many locusts, nor would there ever be that many again.
15 They covered all the ground until it was black with them. They ate all the plants and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant anywhere in Egypt.
16 Pharaoh quickly called for Moses and Aaron and said: »I have sinned against Jehovah your God and against you.
17 »Please forgive my sin one more time. Pray to Jehovah your God to take this deadly plague away from me.«
18 Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to Jehovah.
19 Jehovah changed the wind to a very strong west wind. It picked up the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left anywhere in Egypt.
20 But Jehovah made the king stubborn. He did not let the Israelites go.
21 Jehovah then said to Moses: »Raise your hand toward the sky. Darkness thick enough to be felt will cover the land of Egypt.«
22 Moses raised his hand toward the sky. Total darkness fell throughout Egypt for three days.
23 The Egyptians could not see each other. No one left his house during that time. The Israelites, however, had light where they were living.
24 The king called Moses. He said: »You may go and worship Jehovah. Even your women and children may go with you. But your sheep, goats, and cattle must stay here.«
25 Moses answered: »Then you would have to provide us with animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings to offer to Jehovah our God.
26 »No, we will take our animals with us! Not one will be left behind. We must select the animals with which to worship Jehovah our God. We will not know what animals to sacrifice to him until we get there.«
27 Jehovah made the king stubborn. He would not let them go.
28 He said to Moses: »Get out of my sight! Do not let me ever see you again! On the day I do, you will die!«
29 »You have spoken it!« Moses answered. »You will never see me again.«
11 1 Jehovah said to Moses: »I will send only one more punishment (plague) on the king of Egypt and his people. After that he will let you leave. In fact, he will drive all of you out of here.
2 »Speak to the people of Israel and tell all of them to ask their neighbors for gold and silver jewelry.«
3 Jehovah made the Egyptians respect the Israelites. Indeed, the officials and all the people considered Moses to be a very great man.
4 Moses approached the king. He said: »I have come to let you know what Jehovah is going to do. About midnight he will go through the land of Egypt,
5 and wherever he goes, the first-born son in every family will die. Your own son will die. So will the son of the lowest slave woman. Even the first-born males of cattle will die.
6 »Everywhere in Egypt there will be loud crying. Nothing like this has ever happened before or will ever happen again.
7 »But against any of the sons of Israel a dog will not even bark, whether against man or beast. This is so you may understand how Jehovah makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.«
8 All these your servants will come down to me and bow themselves before me. They will say: »Go out, you and all the people who follow you. Then I will go out.« He went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.
9 Then Jehovah said to Moses: »Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my signs will be multiplied in the land of Egypt.«
10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh. Yet Jehovah hardened Pharaoh’s heart. He did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land.
12 1 Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:
2 »This month shall be the beginning of months for you. It is to be the first month of the year to you.
3 »Tell the whole community of Israel: ‘On the tenth day of this month each man must take a sheep for his family, one animal per household.
4 »‘A household may be too small to eat a whole animal. That household and the one next-door can share one animal. Choose your animal based on the number of people and what each person can eat.
5 »‘Your animal must be a one-year-old male that has no defects. You may choose a lamb or a young goat.
6 »‘Take care of it until the fourteenth day of this month. Then at dusk, all the assembled people from the community of Israel must slaughter their animals.
7 »‘Some of the blood must be put on the two doorposts and above the door of each house where the animals are to be eaten.
8 »‘That night the animals are to be roasted and eaten, together with bitter herbs (greens) and unleavened bread made without yeast.
9 »‘Do not eat the meat raw or boiled. The entire animal, including its head, legs, and insides, must be roasted.
10 »‘Eat what you want that night, and the next morning burn whatever is left.
11 »‘Eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste. It is Jehovah’s Passover.’«
12 Jehovah said: »That night I will go through the land of Egypt. I will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt! I am Jehovah!
13 »The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you. No plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 »This day will be a memorial to you. You shall celebrate it as a feast to Jehovah. You are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance throughout your generations.
15 »You will eat unleavened bread for seven days. The first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day will be cut off from Israel.
16 »You shall have a holy assembly on the first day. There should be another holy assembly on the seventh day. No work at all will be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person that alone may be prepared by you.
17 »You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That was the day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Observe this day throughout your generations as a long lasting ordinance.
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 »There shall be no leaven found in your houses for seven days. Whoever eats what is leavened shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land.
20 »You shall not eat anything leavened. Eat unleavened bread in all your dwellings.«
21 Moses called all the elders of Israel and said: »Take lambs according to your families and slay the Passover lamb.
22 »Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin. Apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts. No one shall go outside the door of his house until morning.
23 »Jehovah will pass through to strike the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, Jehovah will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to kill you.
24 »You shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children from generation to generation.
25 »When you enter the land Jehovah will give you, as he has promised, you shall observe this rite.
26 »When your children ask you: What does this rite mean to you?
27 »You shall say: ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to Jehovah who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He killed the Egyptians, but spared our homes. The people bowed low and worshiped.’«
28 Then the sons of Israel did just as Jehovah had commanded Moses and Aaron.
29 At midnight Jehovah killed every firstborn male in Egypt from the firstborn son of Pharaoh who ruled the land to the firstborn son of the prisoner in jail, and also every firstborn animal.
30 Pharaoh, all his officials, and all the other Egyptians got up during the night. There was loud crying throughout Egypt because in every house someone had died.
31 Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron during the night. He said: »You and the Israelites must leave my people at once. Go serve Jehovah just as you requested.
32 »Take your flocks and herds, too, as you asked. Just go! And bless me, too!«