1The LORD said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh. I have hardened his heart, and the hearts of his servants, so that I may show these signs of mine before him."
2"And so that you may tell your son, and your son's son, what things I have done in Egypt, and the signs I have done among them. Then you will know that I am the LORD."
3So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and said to him, "This is what the LORD 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."
4"If you refuse to let my people go, look, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your land."
5"They will cover the face of the ground, so that no one can see the ground. They will eat what is left over, what escaped the hail and still remains to you. They will eat every tree that grows for you in the field."
6"They will fill your houses, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians. Neither your fathers nor your fathers' fathers have seen anything like it, from the day they were on the earth until this day." Then Moses turned and went out from Pharaoh.
7Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long will this man be a trap to us? Let the men go, so that they may serve the LORD 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 the LORD your God. But who are the ones who will go?"
9Moses said, "We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters. We will go with our flocks and with our herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD."
10He said to them, "May the LORD be with you in the same way that I let you go, and your little ones with you. Watch out, for you are heading into evil."
11"No. You men go and serve the LORD, since that is what you asked for." And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.
12The LORD 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 every plant of the land, all that the hail has left."
13So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
14The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled in all the country of Egypt. They were very terrible. There had never been such locusts before them, and there never will be such again.
15They covered the face of the whole ground, so that the land was dark. They ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on the trees or on the plants of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
16Then Pharaoh hurried to call for Moses and Aaron, and he said, "I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you."
17"Now please forgive my sin just this once, and ask the LORD your God to take away from me this death, only this."
19The LORD turned a very strong west wind, which carried the locusts away and drove them into the Red sea. Not one locust was left in all the country of Egypt.
20But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.
21The LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt."
22So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.
23They did not see one another, and no one got up from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light where they lived.
24Pharaoh called to Moses and said, "Go, serve the LORD. Only let your flocks and your herds stay behind. Your little ones may also go with you."
25Moses said, "You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God."
26"Our cattle must go with us too. Not one hoof will be left behind. We must take some of them to serve the LORD our God, and we do not know what we must serve the LORD with until we get there."
27But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go.
28Pharaoh said to him, "Get away from me. Be careful. Do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face you will die."
29Moses said, "You have spoken well. I will never see your face again."