Exodus 6-9

Exodus 6

¹And the Lord said to Moses, Now you will see what I am about to do to Pharaoh; for by a strong hand he will be forced to let them go, driving them out of his land because of my outstretched arm.

²And God said to Moses, I am Yahweh:

³I let myself be seen by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God, the Ruler of all; but they had no knowledge of my name Yahweh.

⁴And I made an agreement with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their wanderings.

⁵And truly my ears are open to the cry of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep under their yoke; and I have kept in mind my agreement.

⁶Say then to the children of Israel, I am Yahweh, and I will take you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians, and make you safe from their power, and will make you free by the strength of my arm after great punishments.

⁷And I will take you to be my people and I will be your God; and you will be certain that I am the Lord your God, who takes you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.

⁸And I will be your guide into the land which I made an oath to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for your heritage: I am Yahweh.

⁹And Moses said these words to the children of Israel, but they gave no attention to him, because of the grief of their spirit and the cruel weight of their work.

¹⁰And the Lord said to Moses,

¹¹Go in and say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that he is to let the children of Israel go out of his land.

¹²And Moses, answering the Lord, said, See, the children of Israel will not give ear to me; how then will Pharaoh give ear to me, whose lips are unclean?

¹³And the word of the Lord came to Moses and Aaron, with orders for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to take the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁴These are the heads of their fathers' families: the sons of Reuben the oldest son of Israel: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi: these are the families of Reuben.

¹⁵And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul, the son of a woman of Canaan: these are the families of Simeon.

¹⁶And these are the names of the sons of Levi in the order of their generations: Gershon and Kohath and Merari: and the years of Levi's life were a hundred and thirty-seven.

¹⁷The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, in the order of their families.

¹⁸And the sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel: and the years of Kohath's life were a hundred and thirty-three.

¹⁹And the sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi: these are the families of the Levites, in the order of their generations.

²⁰And Amram took Jochebed, his father's sister, as wife; and she gave birth to Aaron and Moses: and the years of Amram's life were a hundred and thirty-seven.

²¹And the sons of Izhar: Korah and Nepheg and Zichri.

²²And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael and Elzaphan and Sithri.

²³And Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon; and she gave birth to Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

²⁴And the sons of Korah: Assir and Elkanah and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korahites.

²⁵And Eleazar, Aaron's son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Putiel; and she gave birth to Phinehas. These are the heads of the families of the Levites, in the order of their families.

²⁶These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, Take the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt in their armies.

²⁷These are the men who gave orders to Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go out of Egypt: these are the same Moses and Aaron.

²⁸And on the day when the word of the Lord came to Moses in the land of Egypt,

²⁹The Lord said to Moses, I am the Lord: say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, everything I am saying to you.

³⁰And Moses said to the Lord, My lips are unclean; how is it possible that Pharaoh will give me a hearing?

Exodus 7

¹And the Lord said to Moses, See I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.

²Say whatever I give you orders to say: and Aaron your brother will give word to Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go out of his land.

³And I will make Pharaoh's heart hard, and my signs and wonders will be increased in the land of Egypt.

⁴But Pharaoh will not give ear to you, and I will put my hand on Egypt, and take my armies, my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, after great punishments.

⁵And the Egyptians will see that I am the Lord, when my hand is stretched out over Egypt, and I take the children of Israel out from among them.

⁶And Moses and Aaron did so: as the Lord gave them orders, so they did.

⁷And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they gave the Lord's word to Pharaoh.

⁸And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

⁹If Pharaoh says to you, Let me see a wonder: then say to Aaron, Take your rod and put it down on the earth before Pharaoh so that it may become a snake.

¹⁰Then Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and they did as the Lord had said: and Aaron put his rod down on the earth before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a snake.

¹¹Then Pharaoh sent for the wise men and the wonder-workers, and they, the wonder-workers of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.

¹²For every one of them put down his rod on the earth, and they became snakes: but Aaron's rod made a meal of their rods.

¹³But Pharaoh's heart was made hard, and he did not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.

¹⁴And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh's heart is unchanged; he will not let the people go.

¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning; when he goes out to the water, you will be waiting for him by the edge of the Nile, with the rod which was turned into a snake in your hand;

¹⁶And say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, Let my people go so that they may give me worship in the waste land; but up to now you have not given ear to his words.

¹⁷So the Lord says, By this you may be certain that I am the Lord; see, by the touch of this rod in my hand the waters of the Nile will be turned to blood;

¹⁸And the fish in the Nile will come to destruction, and the river will send up a bad smell, and the Egyptians will not be able, for disgust, to make use of the water of the Nile for drinking.

¹⁹And the Lord said, Say to Aaron, Let the rod in your hand be stretched out over the waters of Egypt, and over the rivers and the streams and the pools, and over every stretch of water, so that they may be turned to blood; and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.

²⁰And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had said; and when his rod had been lifted up and stretched out over the waters of the Nile before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, all the water in the Nile was turned to blood;

²¹And the fish in the Nile came to destruction, and a bad smell went up from the river, and the Egyptians were not able to make use of the water of the Nile for drinking; and there was blood through all the land of Egypt.

²²And the wonder-workers of Egypt did the same with their secret arts: but Pharaoh's heart was made hard, and he would not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.

²³Then Pharaoh went into his house, and did not take even this to heart.

²⁴And all the Egyptians made holes round about the Nile to get drinking-water, for they were not able to make use of the Nile water.

²⁵And seven days went past, after the Lord had put his hand on the Nile.

Exodus 8

¹And this is what the Lord said to Moses: Go to Pharaoh and say to him, The Lord says, Let my people go so that they may give me worship.

²And if you will not let them go, see, I will send frogs into every part of your land:

³The Nile will be full of frogs, and they will come up into your house and into your bedrooms and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and into your bread-basins.

⁴The frogs will come up over you and your people and all your servants.

⁵And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Let the rod in your hand be stretched out over the streams and the waterways and the pools, causing frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.

⁶And when Aaron put out his hand over the waters of Egypt, the frogs came up and all the land of Egypt was covered with them.

⁷And the wonder-workers did the same with their secret arts, making frogs come up over the land of Egypt.

⁸Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said, Make prayer to the Lord that he will take away these frogs from me and my people; and I will let the people go and make their offering to the Lord.

⁹And Moses said, I will let you have the honour of saying when I am to make prayer for you and your servants and your people, that the frogs may be sent away from you and your houses, and be only in the Nile.

¹⁰And he said, By tomorrow. And he said, Let it be as you say: so that you may see that there is no other like the Lord our God.

¹¹And the frogs will be gone from you and from your houses and from your servants and from your people and will be only in the Nile.

¹²Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses made prayer to the Lord about the frogs which he had sent on Pharaoh.

¹³And the Lord did as Moses said; and there was an end of all the frogs in the houses and in the open spaces and in the fields.

¹⁴And they put them together in masses, and a bad smell went up from the land.

¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was peace for a time, he made his heart hard and did not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.

¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Let your rod be stretched out over the dust of the earth so that it may become insects through all the land of Egypt.

¹⁷And they did so; and Aaron, stretching out the rod in his hand, gave a touch to the dust of the earth, and insects came on man and on beast; all the dust of the earth was changed into insects through all the land of Egypt.

¹⁸And the wonder-workers with their secret arts, attempting to make insects, were unable to do so: and there were insects on man and on beast.

¹⁹Then the wonder-workers said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: but Pharaoh's heart was hard, and he did not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.

²⁰And the Lord said to Moses, Get up early in the morning and take your place before Pharaoh when he comes out to the water; and say to him, This is what the Lord says: Let my people go to give me worship.

²¹For if you do not let my people go, see, I will send clouds of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and into their houses; and the houses of the Egyptians and the land where they are will be full of flies.

²²And at that time I will make a division between your land and the land of Goshen where my people are, and no flies will be there; so that you may see that I am the Lord over all the earth.

²³And I will put a division between my people and your people; tomorrow this sign will be seen.

²⁴And the Lord did so; and great clouds of flies came into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses, and all the land of Egypt was made waste because of the flies.

²⁵And Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said, Go and make your offering to your God here in the land.

²⁶And Moses said, It is not right to do so; for we make our offerings of that to which the Egyptians give worship; and if we do so before their eyes, certainly we will be stoned.

²⁷But we will go three days' journey into the waste land and make an offering to the Lord our God as he may give us orders.

²⁸Then Pharaoh said, I will let you go to make an offering to the Lord your God in the waste land; but do not go very far away, and make prayer for me.

²⁹And Moses said, When I go out from you I will make prayer to the Lord that the cloud of flies may go away from Pharaoh and from his people and from his servants tomorrow: only let Pharaoh no longer by deceit keep back the people from making their offering to the Lord.

³⁰Then Moses went out from Pharaoh and made prayer to the Lord.

³¹And the Lord did as Moses said, and took away the cloud of flies from Pharaoh and from his servants and from his people; not one was to be seen.

³²But again Pharaoh made his heart hard and did not let the people go.

Exodus 9

¹Then the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may give me worship.

²For if you will not let them go, but still keep them in your power,

³Then the hand of the Lord will put on your cattle in the field, on the horses and the asses and the camels, on the herds and the flocks, a very evil disease.

⁴And the Lord will make a division between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt; there will be no loss of any of the cattle of Israel.

⁵And the time was fixed by the Lord, and he said, Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.

⁶And on the day after, the Lord did as he had said, causing the death of all the cattle of Egypt, but there was no loss of any of the cattle of Israel.

⁷And Pharaoh sent and got word that there was no loss of any of the cattle of Israel. But the heart of Pharaoh was hard and he did not let the people go.

⁸And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, Take in your hand a little dust from the fire and let Moses send it in a shower up to heaven before the eyes of Pharaoh.

⁹And it will become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and will be a skin-disease bursting out in wounds on man and beast through all the land of Egypt.

¹⁰So they took some dust from the fire, and placing themselves before Pharaoh, Moses sent it out in a shower up to heaven; and it became a skin-disease bursting out on man and on beast.

¹¹And the wonder-workers were not able to take their places before Moses, because of the disease; for the disease was on the wonder-workers and on all the Egyptians.

¹²And the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he would not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.

¹³And the Lord said to Moses, Get up early in the morning and take your place before Pharaoh, and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may give me worship.

¹⁴For this time I will send all my punishments on yourself and on your servants and on your people; so that you may see that there is no other like me in all the earth.

¹⁵For if I had put the full weight of my hand on you and your people, you would have been cut off from the earth:

¹⁶But, for this very reason, I have kept you from destruction, to make clear to you my power, and so that my name may be honoured through all the earth.

¹⁷Are you still uplifted in pride against my people so that you will not let them go?

¹⁸Truly, tomorrow about this time I will send down an ice-storm, such as never was in Egypt from its earliest days till now.

¹⁹Then send quickly and get in your cattle and all you have from the fields; for if any man or beast in the field has not been put under cover, the ice-storm will come down on them with destruction.

²⁰Then everyone among the servants of Pharaoh who had the fear of the Lord, made his servants and his cattle come quickly into the house:

²¹And he who gave no attention to the word of the Lord, kept his servants and his cattle in the field.

²²And the Lord said to Moses, Now let your hand be stretched out to heaven so that there may be an ice-storm on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every plant of the field through all the land of Egypt.

²³And Moses put out his rod to heaven: and the Lord sent thunder, and an ice-storm, and fire running down on the earth; the Lord sent an ice-storm on the land of Egypt.

²⁴So there was an ice-storm with fire running through it, coming down with great force, such as never was in all the land of Egypt from the time when it became a nation.

²⁵And through all the land of Egypt the ice-storm came down on everything which was in the fields, on man and on beast; and every green plant was crushed and every tree of the field broken.

²⁶Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no ice-storm.

²⁷Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have done evil this time: the Lord is upright, and I and my people are sinners.

²⁸Make prayer to the Lord; for there has been enough of these thunderings of God and this ice-storm; and I will let you go and will keep you no longer.

²⁹And Moses said, When I am gone outside the town, my hands will be stretched out to the Lord; the thunders and the ice-storm will come to an end, so that you may see that the earth is the Lord's.

³⁰But as for you and your servants, I am certain that even now the fear of the Lord God will not be in your hearts.

³¹And the flax and the barley were damaged, for the barley was almost ready to be cut and the flax was in flower.

³²But the rest of the grain-plants were undamaged, for they had not come up.

³³So Moses went out of the town, and stretching out his hands made prayer to God: and the thunders and the ice-storm came to an end; and the fall of rain was stopped.

³⁴But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the ice-storm and the thunders were ended, he went on sinning, and made his heart hard, he and his servants.

³⁵And the heart of Pharaoh was hard, and he did not let the people go, as the Lord had said by the mouth of Moses.