Exodus 8

¹And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharaoh and say to him: Thus says the Lord: Let my people go, that they may serve me.

²But if you are refusing to send them, behold, I am about to strike all your territory with frogs.

³And the Nile will swarm with frogs, and they will come up and come into your house and into your bedchamber and onto your bed, and into the house of your servants and of your people, and into your ovens and your kneading-troughs.

⁴and upon you, and upon your people, and upon all your servants, the frogs shall come up.

⁵And the LORD said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch out your hand with your rod over the rivers, over the Nile channels, and over the pools, and bring up frogs over the land of Egypt.

⁶And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frog came up and covered the land of Egypt.

⁷And the magicians did likewise with their secret arts, and they brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.

⁸And Pharaoh called to Moses and to Aaron, and he said, Plead with the LORD that he may remove the frogs from me and from my people, and I will send the people away so that they may sacrifice to the LORD.

⁹And Moses said to Pharaoh: Have this honor over me — when shall I pray for you, and for your servants, and for your people, to cut off the frogs from you and from your houses? Only in the Nile shall they remain.

¹⁰And he said, Tomorrow. And he said, As your word — so that you may know that there is none like the LORD our God.

¹¹And the frogs will depart from you and from your houses and from your servants and from your people; only in the Nile will they remain.

¹²And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to the Lord concerning the matter of the frogs that he had appointed for Pharaoh.

¹³And the LORD did as Moses said, and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards, and out of the fields.

¹⁴And they piled them heap upon heap, and the land reeked.

¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he made his heart heavy, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken.

¹⁶And the LORD said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch out your rod and strike the dust of the ground, and it shall become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.

¹⁷And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and on animal. All the dust of the earth became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.

¹⁸And the magicians did likewise with their secret arts to bring forth the gnats, but they could not; and the gnats were upon man and beast alike.

¹⁹And the magicians said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had spoken.

²⁰And the Lord said to Moses: Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh — behold, he is going out to the water — and say to him: Thus says the Lord: Let my people go, that they may serve me.

²¹For if you will not let my people go, I am about to send the swarms against you and against your servants and against your people and against your houses, and the houses of the Egyptians will be filled with the swarms, and also the ground on which they stand.

²²But I will set apart on that day the land of Goshen, where my people stand, so that no swarm of flies shall be there, so that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the land.

²³And I will put a distinction between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall be.

²⁴And Yhwh did so, and a dense swarm came into the house of Pharaoh and into the house of his servants and into all the land of Egypt; the land was ruined because of the swarms.

²⁵And Pharaoh called to Moses and Aaron and said: Go, sacrifice to the God of you all in the land.

²⁶And Moses said, It is not right to do so, for the abomination of the Egyptians we would sacrifice to the LORD our God. Were we to sacrifice what is abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, would they not stone us?

²⁷A journey of three days we will go into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he commands us.

²⁸And Pharaoh said, I myself will let you go, that you may sacrifice to Yhwh, the God of you all, in the wilderness; only you must not go far away to go. Intercede for me.

²⁹And Moses said, Behold, I am going out from you, and I will plead with the LORD, and the swarm will depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow. Only let Pharaoh not deal deceitfully again by not sending the people to sacrifice to the LORD.

³⁰And Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord.

³¹And Yhwh did according to the word of Moses, and the swarms departed from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained.

³²And Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not send the people away.