the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Exodus 11
The Death of the Firstborn
1 Then the Lord told Moses, "I have one more disaster to bring against Pharaoh and Egypt. After this, he will ask you to leave Egypt. In fact, he will force you to leave this country. 2 You must give this message to the Israelites: ‘Men and women, you must ask your neighbors to give you things made of silver and gold.'" 3 The Lord caused the Egyptians to be kind to the Israelites. The Egyptians, even Pharaoh's own officials, already considered Moses to be a great man.
4 Moses said to the king, "The Lord says, ‘At midnight tonight, I will go through Egypt, 5 and every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, to the firstborn son of the slave girl grinding grain. Even the firstborn animals will die. 6 The crying in Egypt will be worse than at any time in the past or any time in the future. 7 But none of the Israelites or their animals will be hurt—not even a dog will bark at them.' Then you will know that the Lord has treated Israel differently from Egypt. 8 All these officials of yours will come down and bow to me. They will say, ‘Leave and take all your people with you.' Only then will I leave!" Then in anger, Moses left the meeting with Pharaoh.
9 Then the Lord told Moses, "The reason Pharaoh did not listen to you is so that I could show my great power in Egypt." 10 That is why Moses and Aaron did all these great miracles in front of Pharaoh. And that is why the Lord made Pharaoh so stubborn that he would not let the Israelites leave his country.
