The slave masters were pressuring them, saying, "Complete your work for each day, just like when there was straw!"

The Israelite foremen whom Pharaoh's slave masters had set over them were beaten and were asked, "Why did you not complete your requirement for brickmaking as in the past -- both yesterday and today?"

The Israelite foremen went and cried out to Pharaoh, "Why are you treating your servants this way?

But Pharaoh replied, "You are slackers! Slackers! That is why you are saying, 'Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.'

When they went out from Pharaoh, they encountered Moses and Aaron standing there to meet them,

and they said to them, "May the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the opinion of Pharaoh and his servants, so that you have given them an excuse to kill us!"

Moses returned to the Lord, and said, "Lord, why have you caused trouble for this people? Why did you ever send me?

From the time I went to speak to Pharaoh in your name, he has caused trouble for this people, and you have certainly not rescued them!"

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for compelled by my strong hand he will release them, and by my strong hand he will drive them out of his land."

I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from your enslavement to the Egyptians.

"Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt that he must release the Israelites from his land."

But Moses replied to the Lord, "If the Israelites did not listen to me, then how will Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with difficulty?"

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge for the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

They were the men who were speaking to Pharaoh king of Egypt, in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. It was the same Moses and Aaron.

he said to him, "I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I am telling you."

But Moses said before the Lord, "Since I speak with difficulty, why should Pharaoh listen to me?"

So the Lord said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.

You are to speak everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh that he must release the Israelites from his land.

But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and although I will multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt,

Pharaoh will not listen to you. I will reach into Egypt and bring out my regiments, my people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment.

Now Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

"When Pharaoh says to you, 'Do a miracle,' and you say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,' it will become a snake."

When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they did so, just as the Lord had commanded them -- Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake.

Then Pharaoh also summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the magicians of Egypt by their secret arts did the same thing.

Yet Pharaoh's heart became hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

The Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is hard; he refuses to release the people.

Go to Pharaoh in the morning when he goes out to the water. Position yourself to meet him by the edge of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake.

Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord had commanded. Moses raised the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile right before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.

But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts, and so Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron -- just as the Lord had predicted.

And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. He did not pay any attention to this.

All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the Nile.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'Thus says the Lord: "Release my people in order that they may serve me!

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to the Lord that he may take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will release the people that they may sacrifice to the Lord."

Moses said to Pharaoh, "You may have the honor over me -- when shall I pray for you, your servants, and your people, for the frogs to be removed from you and your houses, so that they will be left only in the Nile?"

Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the Lord because of the frogs that he had brought on Pharaoh.

But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

The magicians said to Pharaoh, "It is the finger of God!" But Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

The Lord said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and position yourself before Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, and tell him, 'Thus says the Lord, "Release my people that they may serve me!

The Lord did so; a thick swarm of flies came into Pharaoh's house and into the houses of his servants, and throughout the whole land of Egypt the land was ruined because of the swarms of flies.

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God within the land."

But Moses said, "That would not be the right thing to do, for the sacrifices we make to the Lord our God would be an abomination to the Egyptians. If we make sacrifices that are an abomination to the Egyptians right before their eyes, will they not stone us?

Pharaoh said, "I will release you so that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the desert. Only you must not go very far. Do pray for me."

Moses said, "I am going to go out from you and pray to the Lord, and the swarms of flies will go away from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow. Only do not let Pharaoh deal falsely again by not releasing the people to sacrifice to the Lord."

So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord,

and the Lord did as Moses asked -- he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one remained!

But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also and did not release the people.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, "Release my people that they may serve me!

For if you refuse to release them and continue holding them,

Pharaoh sent representatives to investigate, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of Israel had died. But Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he did not release the people.

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Take handfuls of soot from a furnace, and have Moses throw it into the air while Pharaoh is watching.

So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh, Moses threw it into the air, and it caused festering boils to break out on both people and animals.

The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted to Moses.

The Lord said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and tell him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: "Release my people so that they may serve me!

For this time I will send all my plagues on your very self and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with plague, and you would have been destroyed from the earth.

But for this purpose I have caused you to stand: to show you my strength, and so that my name may be declared in all the earth.

Those of Pharaoh's servants who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their servants and livestock into the houses,

When Moses extended his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire fell to the earth; so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.

Hail fell and fire mingled with the hail; the hail was so severe that there had not been any like it in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

So Pharaoh sent and summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, "I have sinned this time! The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are guilty.

Pray to the Lord, for the mighty thunderings and hail are too much! I will release you and you will stay no longer."

But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God."

(Now the flax and the barley were struck by the hail, for the barley had ripened and the flax was in bud.

But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are later crops.)

So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain stopped pouring on the earth.

When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder ceased, he sinned again: both he and his servants hardened their hearts.

So Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he did not release the Israelites, as the Lord had predicted through Moses.

The Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display these signs of mine before him,

So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and told him, "Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: 'How long do you refuse to humble yourself before me? Release my people so that they may serve me!

They will cover the surface of the earth, so that you will be unable to see the ground. They will eat the remainder of what escaped -- what is left over for you -- from the hail, and they will eat every tree that grows for you from the field.

They will fill your houses, the houses of your servants, and all the houses of Egypt, such as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since they have been in the land until this day!'" Then Moses turned and went out from Pharaoh.

Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long will this man be a menace to us? Release the people so that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not know that Egypt is destroyed?"

So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, "Go, serve the Lord your God. Exactly who is going with you?"

Moses said, "We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our sheep and our cattle we will go, because we are to hold a pilgrim feast for the Lord."

No! Go, you men only, and serve the Lord, for that is what you want." Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh's presence.

The Lord said to Moses, "Extend your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up over the land of Egypt and eat everything that grows in the ground, everything that the hail has left."

Then Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you!

Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord,

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not release the Israelites.

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 Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, "Go, serve the Lord -- only your flocks and herds will be detained. Even your families may go with you."

Our livestock must also go with us! Not a hoof is to be left behind! For we must take these animals to serve the Lord our God. Until we arrive there, we do not know what we must use to serve the Lord."

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he was not willing to release them.

Pharaoh said to him, "Go from me! Watch out for yourself! Do not appear before me again, for when you see my face you will die!"

The Lord said to Moses, "I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will release you from this place. When he releases you, he will drive you out completely from this place.

(Now the Lord granted the people favor with the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, respected by Pharaoh's servants and by the Egyptian people.)

and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

All these your servants will come down to me and bow down to me, saying, 'Go, you and all the people who follow you,' and after that I will go out." Then Moses went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

The Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt."

So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not release the Israelites from his land.

Tell the whole community of Israel, 'In the tenth day of this month they each must take a lamb for themselves according to their families -- a lamb for each household.

If any household is too small for a lamb, the man and his next-door neighbor are to take a lamb according to the number of people -- you will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat.

You must care for it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community of Israel will kill it around sundown.

They will eat the meat the same night; they will eat it roasted over the fire with bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs.

Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire with its head, its legs, and its entrails.

You must leave nothing until morning, but you must burn with fire whatever remains of it until morning.

The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see the blood I will pass over you, and this plague will not fall on you to destroy you when I attack the land of Egypt.

This day will become a memorial for you, and you will celebrate it as a festival to the Lord -- you will celebrate it perpetually as a lasting ordinance.