The 8th punishment — God sends locusts
1Then the Lord said to Moses: ‘Go to Pharaoh. I have made him and his officials stubborn so that I can do these miracles and they can see them. 2Later you can tell your children and your grandchildren how I punished the Egyptians and what I did to them, so that you will know I am the Lord.’
3Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and they said to him: ‘The God of the Hebrews says to you: “How long will you say no to God? When will you humble yourself before Me? You must let my people go so that they can worship Me. 4If you do not let them go, I will bring lots of locusts to your land tomorrow. 5You will not be able to see the ground in your land. The locusts will eat the plants that were left over from the hail-stones. They will eat all the leaves that have grown on the trees. 6They will go into your homes, into the houses of your officials and into the houses of all the Egyptians. You have never seen so many locusts, not you nor your forefathers, from the time they came to live in this land until today.” ’
Moses turned_around and he went away from Pharaoh. 7Then Pharaoh's officials asked him: ‘How long will you let this man give us trouble? Let the men go so that they can worship the Lord their God. Don't you realise that Egypt is destroyed?’
8The officials called Moses and Aaron to come back to Pharaoh and he told Moses and Aaron: ‘Go and worship the Lord your God.’ Then he asked them: ‘But tell me, who will be going with you to worship?’ 9Moses answered: ‘We will go with our young and our old people, with our sons and our daughters. We will also take all our sheep, our goats and cattle, because we must celebrate a feast for the Lord.’
10Pharaoh said to them: ‘I will never let your women and children go with you. Beware, I know you want to do something wrong. 11No, only the men may go and worship the Lord. That is what you asked me.’ Then Pharaoh chased them out of his palace.
12The Lord said to Moses: ‘Put your hand up over Egypt so that locusts can go over the land. They will eat all the grass, and everything that was left over from the hail-stones.’ 13So Moses put his staff up over Egypt and the Lord made the eastern wind blow over the land all of that day and night and it brought the locusts the next morning. 14The locusts were all over the land of Egypt and on the ground. The swarms of locusts were very big. There had never been so many locusts in the land, not before that time and not after it.
15There were so many locusts that the people could not see the ground or the sun. The locusts ate everything on the trees and in the fields that was left over from the hail-stones. After that there was nothing green in Egypt, not a tree or plant in the fields.
16Then Pharaoh quickly called Moses and Aaron and he said: ‘I have sinned_against the Lord your God and against you. 17Please forgive my mistake this one time and pray to the Lord your God and ask Him to take away these locusts that are destroying all the plants.’
18Moses went away from Pharaoh and he prayed to the Lord. 19Then the Lord changed the eastern wind into a very strong western wind. The wind picked up all the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left in all of Egypt. 20But the Lord made Pharaoh stubborn and Pharaoh did not want to let the Israelites go.
The 9th punishment — it becomes dark in Egypt
21Then the Lord said to Moses: ‘Put your hand up to the sky, and then it will become dark in Egypt. It will be so dark that people will have to feel where to walk.’
22Moses put up his hand to the sky and it became very dark in all of Egypt. It was dark for 3 days. 23The Egyptians could not see each other and no one could go out of his house. But it was light where the Israelites were living. 24Pharaoh called Moses and said: ‘You may go and worship the Lord. Your women and children may also go with you, but your sheep, goats and cattle must stay here.’
25Moses said: ‘You must let us take our animals for offerings and burnt-offerings to sacrifice to the Lord our God. 26No, we must take our animals with us. Not one must stay behind. We do not know which animals we have to sacrifice to the Lord. We will know that only when we get there.’
27The Lord made Pharaoh stubborn. He did not want to let the Israelites go. 28Pharaoh said to Moses: ‘Go away from me. I do not want to see you again. If I see you again, I will kill you.’ 29Moses said: ‘What you have said is right. I will never see your face again.’
