Study Desk

"But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the LORD God."

(Now the flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud.

But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they ripen late.)

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, so that I may perform these signs of Mine among them,

'For if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.

Moses said, "We shall go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we shall go, for we must hold a feast to the LORD."

Then he said to them, "So may the LORD be with you, when I let you and your little ones go! Watch out, for evil is on your mind!

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Reach out with your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come up on the land of Egypt and eat every plant of the land, everything that the hail has left."

For they covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Therefore nothing green was left on tree or plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt.

Then Pharaoh hurriedly called for Moses and Aaron, and he said, "I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you.

So Moses reached out with his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.

They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings.

Then Pharaoh called for Moses, and said, "Go, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be left behind. Even your little ones may go with you."

"Therefore, our livestock too shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we shall take some of them to serve the LORD our God. And until we arrive there, we ourselves do not know with what we shall serve the LORD."

Then Pharaoh said to him, "Get away from me! Be careful, do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you shall die!"

"This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you.

"Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month they are, each one, to take a lamb for themselves, according to the fathers' households, a lamb for each household.

'Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; in proportion to what each one should eat, you are to divide the lamb.

'For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the LORD.

'The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will come upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.