Study Desk

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land."

"As for you, you shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they too, the soothsayer priests of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.

For each one threw down his staff, and they turned into serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed their staffs.

Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house with no concern even for this.

So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink from the water of the Nile.

Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, "Plead with the LORD to remove the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, so that they may sacrifice to the LORD."

And Moses said to Pharaoh, "The honor is yours to tell me: when shall I plead for you and your servants and your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, that they be left only in the Nile?"

"For if you are not going to let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and on your servants and on your people, and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians will be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they live.

Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God within the land."

But Moses said, "It is not permissible for us to do so, because we will sacrifice to the LORD our God that which is an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice that which is an abomination to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us?

Pharaoh said, "I will let you go, so that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Plead for me."

"For if you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them,

Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Take for yourselves handfuls of soot from a kiln, and Moses shall toss it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh.

The soothsayer priests could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the soothsayer priests as well as on all the Egyptians.

"For this time I am going to send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth.

"For had I now put out My hand and struck you and your people with plague, you would then have been eliminated from the earth.

"But indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name throughout the earth.

Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "I have sinned this time; the LORD is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones.

"Plead with the LORD, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail; and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer."