One Year Pray for America Bible - Flipbook - Page 125
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the God of the Hebrews, says: How
long will you refuse to submit to me?
Let my people go, so they can worship
me. 4 If you refuse, watch out! For tomorrow I will bring a swarm of locusts
on your country. 5 They will cover the
land so that you won’t be able to see the
ground. They will devour what little is
left of your crops after the hailstorm,
including all the trees growing in the
fields. 6 They will overrun your palaces
and the homes of your officials and all
the houses in Egypt. Never in the history of Egypt have your ancestors seen
a plague like this one!” And with that,
Moses turned and left Pharaoh.
7 Pha
raoh’s officials now came to
Pharaoh and appealed to him. “How
long will you let this man hold us hostage? Let the men go to worship the
Lord their God! Don’t you realize that
Egypt lies in ruins?”
8 So Moses and Aaron were brought
back to Pharaoh. “All right,” he told
them, “go and worship the Lord your
God. But who exactly will be going
with you?”
9
Moses replied, “We will all go—
young and old, our sons and daughters, and our flocks and herds. We
must all join together in celebrating a
festival to the Lord.”
10 Pharaoh retorted, “The Lord will
certainly need to be with you if I let you
take your little ones! I can see through
your evil plan. 11 Never! Only the men
may go and worship the Lord, since
that is what you requested.” And Pha
raoh threw them out of the palace.
12 Then the Lord said to
Moses,
“Raise your hand over the land of
Egypt to bring on the locusts. Let them
cover the land and devour every plant
that survived the hailstorm.”
13 So M
oses raised his staff over
Egypt, and the Lord caused an east
wind to blow over the land all that day
and through the night. When morning
arrived, the east wind had brought the
locusts. 14 And the locusts swarmed
over the whole land of Egypt, settling
in dense swarms from one end of the
country to the other. It was the worst
locust plague in Egyptian history, and
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there has never been another one like
it. 15 For the locusts covered the whole
country and darkened the land. They
devoured every plant in the fields
and all the fruit on the trees that had
survived the hailstorm. Not a single
leaf was left on the trees and plants
throughout the land of Egypt.
16 Pharaoh quickly summoned M
oses
and Aaron. “I have sinned against the
Lord your God and against you,” he
confessed. 17 “Forgive my sin, just this
once, and plead with the Lord your
God to take away this death from me.”
18 So Moses left Pharaoh’s court and
pleaded with the Lord. 19 The Lord
responded by shifting the wind, and
the strong west wind blew the locusts
into the Red Sea.* Not a single locust
remained in all the land of Egypt.
20 But the Lord hardened Pha
raoh’s
heart again, so he refused to let the
people go.
21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Lift
your hand toward heaven, and the
land of Egypt will be covered with a
darkness so thick you can feel it.” 22 So
Moses lifted his hand to the sky, and
a deep darkness covered the entire
land of Egypt for three days. 23 During
all that time the people could not see
each other, and no one moved. But
there was light as usual where the
people of Israel lived.
24 Finally, Pharaoh called for Moses.
“Go and worship the Lord,” he said.
“But leave your flocks and herds here.
You may even take your little ones
with you.”
25 “No,” Moses said, “you must provide us with animals for sacrifices and
burnt offerings to the Lord our God.
26 All our livestock must go with us, too;
not a hoof can be left behind. We must
choose our sacrifices for the Lord our
God from among these animals. And
we won’t know how we are to worship
the Lord until we get there.”
27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s
heart once more, and he would not let
them go. 28 “Get out of here!” Pharaoh
shouted at M
oses. “I’m warning you.
Never come back to see me again! The
day you see my face, you will die!”
