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the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials, so that I may perform these miraculous signs of Mine among them. 2 Then you can tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, and you will know that I am the Lord.”
3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. 4 But if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country. 5 They will cover the surface of the land so that no one will be able to see the land. They will eat what little you have left after the hail, and they will devour every tree you have growing in your fields. 6 They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and of all the Egyptians—something that neither your fathers nor your forefathers have ever seen from the day they settled in this land until today’.” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.
7 Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long must this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Do you not yet realise that Egypt is ruined?”
8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, worship the Lord your God. But who exactly will be going?”
9 Moses replied, “We will go with our young and old; we will go with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we must celebrate a festival to honour the Lord.”
10 Pharaoh said, “The Lord be with you, if I let you and your families go. Clearly you have some evil purpose in mind. 11 No! Have only the men go and worship the Lord, since that is what you have been asking for.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, and the locusts will come and devour every plant in the land, anything that remains after the hail.”
13 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord sent an east wind over the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought in the locusts. 14 The locusts came up over all of the land of Egypt in vast numbers, and they settled right across all of the country. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be so many again. 15 They covered all the ground until it was blackened, and they devoured all the plants growing in the fields and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on the trees or plants in the fields across all of the land of Egypt.
16 Then Pharaoh urgently summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. 17 Please forgive my sin once more, and plead with the Lord your God that He will take this deadly plague away from me.”
18 So Moses went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. 19 And the Lord changed the wind into a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the territory of Egypt. 20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.
21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can even be felt.”
22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness throughout all of the land of Egypt for three days. 23 No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light where they lived.
24 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the Lord. Even your families may go with you; only your flocks and your herds must remain behind.”
25 But Moses said, “You must allow us to have sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the Lord our God. 26 Our livestock must also go with us; not a hoof is to be left behind, because we have to use some of them when we worship the Lord our God. Also, we will not know what we are to use to worship the Lord until we get there.”
27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go. 28 Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure that you never see my face again, for on the day you see my face you will die.”
29 Moses said, “Just as you say, I will never see your face again!”