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days passed after the Lord struck the Nile. 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. 2 But if you refuse to let them go, then behold, I will plague your whole country with frogs. 3 The Nile will swarm with frogs. They will come up into your palace, and into your bedroom, and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls. 4 The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials” ’.”
5 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals, and over the ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt’.”ℝ
6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 7 But the magicians did the same by their secret arts; they also brought frogs up on land of Egypt.
8 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take away the frogs from me and my people. Then I will let the people go and they can sacrifice to the Lord.”
9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “I give you the honour of setting the time when you would have me pray on behalf of you and your officials and your people, that the frogs be taken away from you and your houses, and only remain in the Nile.”
10 “Tomorrow,” Pharaoh answered.
Moses replied, “It will be as you have said, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. 11 The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials, and your people. The frogs will only remain in the Nile.”
12 After Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs that He had brought on Pharaoh. 13 And the Lord did as Moses asked; and the frogs died in the houses, the courtyards, and in the fields. 14 They were piled together in heaps, and the land stank. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron: ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground, and it will become gnats throughout the land of Egypt’.” 17 And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the ground, and gnats came upon men and animals. All the dust of the ground became gnats throughout the land of Egypt.
18 But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. The gnats were on men and animals.
19 The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
20 The Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh as he is going to the water, and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. 21 But if you will not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you, your officials, your people, and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be filled with swarms of flies, and so will the land where they live.
22 “But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen where My people live, so that no swarms of flies will be there. Then you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land. 23 So I will make a distinction between My people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow” ’.”
24 And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies went into the palace of Pharaoh, into the houses of his officials, and throughout Egypt the land was ruined because of the flies.
25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in this land.”
26 But Moses said, “It would not be right to do that, because the sacrifices we offer to the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. If we offer sacrifices that are detestable in the eyes of the Egyptians, won’t they stone us? 27 We must go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as He commands us.”
28 Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, provided you don’t go very far away. Now pray for me.”
29 Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the swarms of flies will depart from Pharaoh, his officials, and his people. Only be sure that Pharaoh does not deal deceitfully again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”
30 Then Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, 31 and the Lord did as Moses asked: He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh and his officials and his people; so that not one fly remained. 32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he would not let the people go.