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Exodus 10

1Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have made his heart heavy, and the hearts of his servants, so that I may set these signs of mine among them, 2and so that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son's son how I made a mockery of Egypt, and about my signs that I placed among them. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”

3Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go so that they may serve me. 4For if you refuse to let my people go, look, tomorrow I am bringing locusts into your territory. 5They will cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land. They will eat the surviving remnant left to you by the hail, and they will eat every tree growing for you in the field. 6They will fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all Egypt—something neither your fathers nor your fathers' fathers have seen from the day they came to be on the ground until this day.’” Then he turned and left Pharaoh.

7Pharaoh's servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go so that they may serve Yahweh their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is ruined?” 8So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. He said to them, “Go, serve Yahweh your God. Who exactly is going?” 9Moses said, “With our young and our old we will go; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we have a festival for Yahweh.” 10He said to them, “May Yahweh indeed be with you if I ever let you and your little ones go! Watch out: evil is before your faces. 11No! Go, the men among you, and serve Yahweh, for that is what you are asking for.” Then they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.

12Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come up over the land of Egypt and eat all the vegetation of the land, everything the hail has left.” 13Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh drove an east wind over the land all that day and all the night. Morning came, and the east wind had carried in the locusts. 14The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled throughout Egypt's territory, a very heavy swarm. Before them there had never been such locusts, and after them there would never be the like. 15They covered the face of the whole land, and the land grew dark. They ate all the vegetation of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green remained on a tree or among the vegetation of the field throughout the land of Egypt.

16Pharaoh hurried to call Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against Yahweh your God and against you. 17Now please forgive my sin just this once, and plead with Yahweh your God to remove just this death from me.” 18He went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with Yahweh. 19Yahweh turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which carried away the locusts and drove them into the Sea of Reeds. Not one locust remained anywhere in Egypt's territory. 20But Yahweh strengthened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go.

21Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the heavens so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness that can be felt.” 22Moses stretched out his hand toward the heavens, and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days. 23No one could see his brother, and no one rose from his place for three days. But all the sons of Israel had light where they lived.

24Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve Yahweh. Only your flocks and your herds must remain behind. Even your little ones may go with you.” 25Moses said, “You yourself must also put sacrifices and burnt offerings into our hands, so that we may offer them to Yahweh our God. 26Our livestock must also go with us. Not a hoof will be left behind, for we must take from them to serve Yahweh our God. We ourselves will not know with what we must serve Yahweh until we arrive there.” 27But Yahweh strengthened Pharaoh's heart, and he was unwilling to let them go. 28Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you will die.” 29Moses said, “You have spoken rightly. I will never see your face again.”

Translation notes 5

10:1, 20, 27 — A heavy and strengthened heart. Verse 1 uses the image of making the heart heavy; verses 20 and 27 use a verb meaning strengthen, here making firm in resistance, traditionally rendered harden. The text names Yahweh as the agent without explaining away Pharaoh's refusal.

10:10 — Pharaoh's threat. His wish that Yahweh be with them is sarcastic. “Evil is before your faces” may accuse them of evil intentions or warn that disaster lies ahead; the wording preserves the image without deciding between those possibilities.

10:19 — Sea of Reeds. This renders the Hebrew name yam suph, traditionally called the Red Sea in English through the Greek tradition. The name alone does not establish the crossing's precise location.

10:20, 23 — Sons of Israel. This collective family expression includes the Israelite people, women and children as well as men; verse 9 names sons and daughters explicitly. “His brother” in verse 23 means another person in the community.

10:21 — Felt darkness. The Hebrew expression is difficult; “darkness that can be felt” takes it as a description of palpable darkness, rather than supplying a particular natural cause.