The Eighth Plague: Locusts
1 The Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants so that I may show these signs of mine among them 2 and so that you may tell, in the hearing of your son and of your son’s son, the things I have done to Egypt and my signs which I have done among them, so that you may know that I am the Lord.”
3 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the The God of the Hebrews, says, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. 4 Or else, if you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, 5 and they will cover the surface of the ground, so that you will be unable to see the ground. They will eat the little that remains after the hail and will devour every tree which sprouts in the field. 6 They will fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.’ ” He turned and went out from Pharaoh.
7 Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord, their God. Do you not know that Egypt is perishing?”
8 Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God, but exactly who are the ones who will go with you?”
9 Moses said, “We will go with our young and with our old. We will go with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.”
10 He said to them, “The Lord be with you if I ever let you go with your little ones! Clearly, you plan to do evil. 11 No! Go now, only the men, to serve the Lord, for that is what you desire!” Then they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts so that they may come up on the land of Egypt and eat every herb of the land and all that the hail has left.”
13 Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all night, and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. 14 The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled in all the borders of Egypt. Never before had there been such a large number of them, and nor will there ever be again. 15 For they covered the surface of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened, and they ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. There remained nothing green, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
16 Then Pharaoh urgently called for Moses and Aaron, and he said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. 17 Now therefore please forgive my sin again, and pray to the Lord your God, that he may also take away from me this death.”
18 Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. 19 The Lord sent a strong, mighty west wind, which took up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the borders of Egypt.
20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the Israelites go.
The Ninth Plague: Darkness
21 The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness which can even be felt.” 22 Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. 23 They could not see one another, and nobody rose from his place for three days, but all the Israelites had light in their homes.
24 Pharaoh called to Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord. Only let your flocks and your herds stay behind. Let your little ones also go with you.”
25 Moses said, “You must also give into our hands, sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.
26 Our livestock also must go with us. Not a hoof must be left behind. From among them we will choose to sacrifice to the Lord, and we do not know which we will use to serve him until we arrive.”
27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go.
28 Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Be careful never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you will die!”
29 Moses said, “As you have spoken, I will not see your face again.”