"The elders will listen to you, and then you and the elders of Israel must go to the king of Egypt and tell him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.'

And they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go a three-day journey into the desert so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, so that he does not strike us with plague or the sword."

We must go on a three-day journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, just as he is telling us."

So Moses extended his hand toward heaven, and there was absolute darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days.

No one could see another person, and no one could rise from his place for three days. But the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

Then Moses led Israel to journey away from the Red Sea. They went out to the Desert of Shur, walked for three days into the desert, and found no water.

The Levites did what Moses ordered, and that day about three thousand men of the people died.