Exodus

The Lord said to Moses:

“Go to Pharaoh for I have made him stubborn and his ministers as well, to show my signs among them,

and that you may tell your grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and about the signs I worked among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”

Moses went with Aaron and said to Pharaoh:

“This is the word of the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: ‘How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go and worship me.

If you refuse to let my people go, I will bring locusts into your country,

and they will completely cover the land’s surface. They will devour what was left after the hail and every tree in the fields.

They will fill your house and the houses of your ministers and all the houses in Egypt, something your fathers and their fathers before them have never seen from ancient times to this day.’”

Having said this, Moses turned away and left Pharaoh’s presence.

Pharaoh’s ministers said to him:

“For how long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go and worship the Lord, their God. Don’t you realize that Egypt is ruined?”

So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said:

“Go! Worship the Lord, your God. But exactly who will go?”

Moses said:

“We shall go with our young and our old, with our sons and daughters, with our sheep and our cattle, for it is the great feast of the Lord that we are to celebrate.”

Pharaoh said:

“May the Lord help you if ever I let you go with your little ones! Oh no! It’s clear you are bent on evil.

No! Only the men will offer sacrifice to the Lord if that is what you want!”

And they were driven away from Pharaoh’s presence.

The Lord said to Moses:

“Stretch out your hand and bring locusts to the land of Egypt. Let them eat every plant in the land, everything left after the hail.”

So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt. All that day and night, the Lord brought an east wind over the land, and in the morning, the east wind brought the locusts.

They came and settled on the land in such quantities as had never been seen before and will never be seen again.

They covered the sky of Egypt, and the earth was in darkness. They devoured all the vegetation in the land and all the fruit of the trees left after the hail. Nothing green remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, in all the land of Egypt.

Because of all this, Pharaoh hastened to summon Moses and Aaron, saying:

“I have sinned against the Lord, your God, and against you.

Forgive my sin, I pray you, at least for once, and ask the Lord, your God, for a final favor: to rid me of this deadly plague.”

Moses left Pharaoh and interceded with the Lord,

who brought a mighty wind from the west that carried off the locusts and swept them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left within the boundaries of Egypt.

But the Lord let Pharaoh be stubborn, and he would not allow the Israelites to leave.

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

The Lord said to Moses:

“Stretch your hand towards heaven and let darkness descend on the land of Egypt, a darkness so dense that it can be felt.”

Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven, and instantly, black darkness covered the land of Egypt for three days.

They could not see each other, and they could not move about for three days, but where the sons of Israel lived, there was light.

Pharaoh summoned Moses and said:

“Go and worship the Lord, you and your children with you; leave only your flocks and herds behind!”

Moses said:

“Are you going to give us animals for our sacrifices and burnt offerings?

No! Our cattle, to the last hoof, must also go with us, for it is from our livestock that we will choose the victims we will offer to the Lord. Moreover, we shall not know which ones we must sacrifice until we arrive at that place.”

But the Lord let Pharaoh be stubborn, and Pharaoh would not let them go.

Pharaoh said to Moses:

“Get out of my sight! Take care! Never come before me again, for the day you do, you will die!”

Moses said:

“As you say, I shall never come before you again.”