Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Egypt » History of israel in » Egypt is plagued for pharaoh's obstinacy
Jehovah said to Moses: Pharaoh is being stubborn. He will not let my people go. In the morning meet Pharaoh when he is on his way to the Nile. Wait for him on the bank of the river. Take the staff that turned into a snake. Say to Pharaoh: 'Jehovah the God of the Hebrews sent me to tell you, Let my people go to worship me in the wilderness. So far you have not listened.' read more.
Jehovah says: 'This is the way you will recognize that I am Jehovah: I will strike the Nile with this staff in my hand. The water will turn into blood. The fish in the Nile will die. The river will stink. The Egyptians will not be able to drink any water from the Nile.' Jehovah then spoke to Moses: Tell Aaron, Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt; its rivers, canals, ponds, and all its reservoirs. They will turn into blood. There will be blood everywhere in Egypt, even in the buckets of wood and stone pitchers. Moses and Aaron did as Jehovah commanded. Aaron raised his staff and struck the Nile in front of Pharaoh and his officials. All the water in the river turned into blood. The fish in the Nile died. The river smelled bad. The Egyptians could not drink any water from the river. There was blood everywhere in Egypt. But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing using their magic spells. So Pharaoh continued to be stubborn. He would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as Jehovah predicted. Pharaoh turned and went back to his palace. This did not change his mind and heart. All the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink because they could not drink any of the water from the river. Seven days passed after Jehovah struck the Nile. Then Jehovah said to Moses: Approach Pharaoh and say to him, 'Jehovah says: Let My people go, that they may serve me. But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will afflict your whole territory with frogs. The Nile will swarm with frogs. They will come up and go into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed. They will go into the houses of your servants and on your people, and into your ovens and into your kneading bowls. The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your servants.' Jehovah also said to Moses: Say to Aaron, 'Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the streams and over the pools. Make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.' So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt. The frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. But the magicians used their secret powers to do the same thing. The king sent for Moses and Aaron and told them: If you ask Jehovah to take these frogs away from me and my people, I will let your people go and offer sacrifices to him. Moses answered: You choose the time when I am to pray for the frogs to stop bothering you, your officials, and your people, and for them to leave your houses and be found only in the river. The king replied: Do it tomorrow! As you wish: Moses agreed. Then everyone will discover that there is no god like Jehovah! The frogs will no longer be found anywhere, except in the Nile. Moses and Aaron left the palace. Moses begged Jehovah to do something about the frogs he had sent as punishment for the king. Jehovah did as Moses asked. The frogs in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields died. The Egyptians piled them up in large mounds, until the land began to stink with them. The king saw that the frogs were dead. He became stubborn again and, just as Jehovah had said, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron. Jehovah said to Moses: Tell Aaron, Strike the ground with your stick. The dust will change into gnats in all of Egypt.' So Aaron struck the ground with his stick. The dust in Egypt was turned into gnats. They swarmed over the people and the animals. The magicians tried to use their magic to make gnats appear, but they failed. There were gnats everywhere! The magicians said to the king: It is the finger of God! (God has done this!) But the king was stubborn. Just as Jehovah predicted, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron. Jehovah said to Moses: Early tomorrow morning, go and meet the king as he goes to the river. Tell him that Jehovah says: 'Let my people go, so that they can serve me. I warn you that if you refuse, I will punish you by sending flies on you, your officials, and your people. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies. The ground will be covered with them. At that same time I will cut off the land of Goshen where my people live. No swarms of flies shall be there. / Then you will know that I am Jehovah in the midst of the earth. I will put a dividing line between my people and your people. This sign will happen tomorrow.' Jehovah did what he said. Dense swarms of flies came into Pharaoh's palace and into the houses of his officials. All over Egypt the flies ruined everything. Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. He said: Go, sacrifice to your God here in this country. Moses replied: It is not right to do that. The sacrifices we offer to Jehovah our God are disgusting to Egyptians. If they see us offer sacrifices that they consider disgusting, will they not stone us to death? We need to travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to Jehovah our God, as he told us to do. Pharaoh said: I will let you go, but do not go far. You may offer sacrifices to Jehovah your God in the desert and pray for me. Moses answered: As soon as I leave you, I will pray to Jehovah. Tomorrow the swarms of flies will go away from you, your officials, and your people. But you must stop tricking us by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to Jehovah. Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to Jehovah. Jehovah did what Moses asked. The swarms of flies left Pharaoh, his officials, and his people. Not a single fly was left. Again Pharaoh was stubborn and did not let the people go. Then Jehovah said to Moses: Go to Pharaoh, and tell him, this is what Jehovah the God of the Hebrews says: Let my people go to serve me. If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them in slavery, Jehovah will bring a terrible plague on your livestock, including your horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep, and goats. Jehovah will distinguish between Israel's livestock and the livestock of the Egyptians. The animals belonging to the Israelites will not die.' Jehovah set a definite time: I, Jehovah, choose tomorrow as the time when I will do this. The next day Jehovah did as he had said. The Egyptian's animals all died. Not one of the animals of the Israelites died. The king asked what had happened. He was told that none of the animals of the Israelites had died. He was stubborn and would not let the people go. Then Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron: Take a few handfuls of ashes from a furnace. Moses is to throw them into the air in front of the king. They will spread out like fine dust over all the land of Egypt. They will produce boils that become open sores on the people and the animals. They got some ashes and stood before the king. Moses threw them into the air. They produced boils that became open sores on the people and the animals. The magicians were not able to appear before Moses, because they were covered with boils, like all the other Egyptians. Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he did not listen to Moses and Aaron. Everything happened just as Jehovah had told Moses. Jehovah told Moses to get up early the next morning and say to the king: God of the Hebrews commands you to let his people go, so they can serve him! If you do not, he will send his worst plagues to strike you, your officials, and everyone else in your country. Then you will find out that no one can oppose Jehovah. He could already have sent a terrible disease and wiped you from the face of the earth. I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you my power and in order to proclaim my name through all the earth. Still you exalt yourself against my people by not letting them go. At this time tomorrow, I will send a very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. Bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety. Every man and beast that is found in the field and is not brought home will die from the hail. The ones among the servants of Pharaoh who respected the word of Jehovah made his servants and his livestock flee into the houses. He who paid no regard to the word of Jehovah left his servants and his livestock in the field. Jehovah said to Moses: Stretch out your hand toward the sky. Hail will fall on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every plant of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky. Then Jehovah sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. Jehovah rained hail on the land of Egypt. It hailed, and lightning flashed while it hailed. This was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. All over Egypt the hail knocked down everything that was out in the open. It struck down people, animals, and every plant in the fields and destroyed every tree in the fields. The region of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was the only place where there was no hail. The king sent for Moses and Aaron and said: This time I have sinned. Jehovah is in the right. My people and I are in the wrong. Pray to Jehovah! We have had enough of this thunder and hail! I promise to let you go. You do not have to stay here any longer. Moses said to him: As soon as I go out of the city, I will lift up my hands in prayer to Jehovah. The thunder will stop. There will be no more hail. Thus you may know that the earth belongs to Jehovah. But I know that you and your servants do not yet respect Jehovah God. The flax and the barley were ruined, because the barley was ripe, and the flax was budding. But the wheat crops ripen later, and they were not damaged. Moses left the royal palace and the city. He lifted his arms in prayer to Jehovah. The thunder, hail, and drenching rain stopped. The king realized that the storm was over. He disobeyed once more. He and his officials were so stubborn that he refused to let the Israelites go. This was exactly what Jehovah said would happen. Jehovah told Moses: Go back to the king. I have made him and his officials stubborn, so that I could work these signs. I did this because I want you to tell your children and your grandchildren about the mighty things and the signs I have done in Egypt. Then all of you will know that I am Jehovah. Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him: Thus says Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. If you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. They shall cover the surface of the land. No one will be able to see the land. They will also eat the rest of what has escaped and is left to you from the hail. They will eat every tree that sprouts for you out of the field. Your houses shall be filled and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians. This is something neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day that they came upon the earth until this day. He turned and went out from Pharaoh.' Pharaoh's servants said to him: How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go so that they may serve Jehovah their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed? Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh. He said to them: Go! Serve Jehovah your God. Who are the ones that shall go? Moses said: We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters. We will go with our flocks and with our herds. We must hold a feast to Jehovah. He said to them: May Jehovah be with you, as I send you and your little ones away. Watch out for evil is before you. Not so! You men go now and serve Jehovah. It is you who desired it. So they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. Jehovah said to Moses: Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts. Let them come up upon the land of Egypt and eat every herb of the land, all that the hail has left. Moses held his staff over the land of Egypt. Jehovah made a wind from the east blow over the land all that day and all that night. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts. They invaded all of Egypt and landed all over the country in great swarms. Never before had there been so many locusts, nor would there ever be that many again. They covered all the ground until it was black with them. They ate all the plants and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant anywhere in Egypt. Pharaoh quickly called for Moses and Aaron and said: I have sinned against Jehovah your God and against you. Please forgive my sin one more time. Pray to Jehovah your God to take this deadly plague away from me. Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to Jehovah. Jehovah changed the wind to a very strong west wind. It picked up the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left anywhere in Egypt. But Jehovah made the king stubborn. He did not let the Israelites go. Jehovah then said to Moses: Raise your hand toward the sky. Darkness thick enough to be felt will cover the land of Egypt. Moses raised his hand toward the sky. Total darkness fell throughout Egypt for three days. The Egyptians could not see each other. No one left his house during that time. The Israelites, however, had light where they were living. The king called Moses. He said: You may go and worship Jehovah. Even your women and children may go with you. But your sheep, goats, and cattle must stay here. Moses answered: Then you would have to provide us with animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings to offer to Jehovah our God. No, we will take our animals with us! Not one will be left behind. We must select the animals with which to worship Jehovah our God. We will not know what animals to sacrifice to him until we get there. Jehovah made the king stubborn. He would not let them go. He said to Moses: Get out of my sight! Do not let me ever see you again! On the day I do, you will die! You have spoken it! Moses answered. You will never see me again.
Jehovah says: 'This is the way you will recognize that I am Jehovah: I will strike the Nile with this staff in my hand. The water will turn into blood. The fish in the Nile will die. The river will stink. The Egyptians will not be able to drink any water from the Nile.' Jehovah then spoke to Moses: Tell Aaron, Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt; its rivers, canals, ponds, and all its reservoirs. They will turn into blood. There will be blood everywhere in Egypt, even in the buckets of wood and stone pitchers. Moses and Aaron did as Jehovah commanded. Aaron raised his staff and struck the Nile in front of Pharaoh and his officials. All the water in the river turned into blood. The fish in the Nile died. The river smelled bad. The Egyptians could not drink any water from the river. There was blood everywhere in Egypt. But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing using their magic spells. So Pharaoh continued to be stubborn. He would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as Jehovah predicted. Pharaoh turned and went back to his palace. This did not change his mind and heart. All the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink because they could not drink any of the water from the river. Seven days passed after Jehovah struck the Nile. Then Jehovah said to Moses: Approach Pharaoh and say to him, 'Jehovah says: Let My people go, that they may serve me. But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will afflict your whole territory with frogs. The Nile will swarm with frogs. They will come up and go into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed. They will go into the houses of your servants and on your people, and into your ovens and into your kneading bowls. The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your servants.' Jehovah also said to Moses: Say to Aaron, 'Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the streams and over the pools. Make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.' So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt. The frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. But the magicians used their secret powers to do the same thing. The king sent for Moses and Aaron and told them: If you ask Jehovah to take these frogs away from me and my people, I will let your people go and offer sacrifices to him. Moses answered: You choose the time when I am to pray for the frogs to stop bothering you, your officials, and your people, and for them to leave your houses and be found only in the river. The king replied: Do it tomorrow! As you wish: Moses agreed. Then everyone will discover that there is no god like Jehovah! The frogs will no longer be found anywhere, except in the Nile. Moses and Aaron left the palace. Moses begged Jehovah to do something about the frogs he had sent as punishment for the king. Jehovah did as Moses asked. The frogs in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields died. The Egyptians piled them up in large mounds, until the land began to stink with them. The king saw that the frogs were dead. He became stubborn again and, just as Jehovah had said, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron. Jehovah said to Moses: Tell Aaron, Strike the ground with your stick. The dust will change into gnats in all of Egypt.' So Aaron struck the ground with his stick. The dust in Egypt was turned into gnats. They swarmed over the people and the animals. The magicians tried to use their magic to make gnats appear, but they failed. There were gnats everywhere! The magicians said to the king: It is the finger of God! (God has done this!) But the king was stubborn. Just as Jehovah predicted, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron. Jehovah said to Moses: Early tomorrow morning, go and meet the king as he goes to the river. Tell him that Jehovah says: 'Let my people go, so that they can serve me. I warn you that if you refuse, I will punish you by sending flies on you, your officials, and your people. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies. The ground will be covered with them. At that same time I will cut off the land of Goshen where my people live. No swarms of flies shall be there. / Then you will know that I am Jehovah in the midst of the earth. I will put a dividing line between my people and your people. This sign will happen tomorrow.' Jehovah did what he said. Dense swarms of flies came into Pharaoh's palace and into the houses of his officials. All over Egypt the flies ruined everything. Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. He said: Go, sacrifice to your God here in this country. Moses replied: It is not right to do that. The sacrifices we offer to Jehovah our God are disgusting to Egyptians. If they see us offer sacrifices that they consider disgusting, will they not stone us to death? We need to travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to Jehovah our God, as he told us to do. Pharaoh said: I will let you go, but do not go far. You may offer sacrifices to Jehovah your God in the desert and pray for me. Moses answered: As soon as I leave you, I will pray to Jehovah. Tomorrow the swarms of flies will go away from you, your officials, and your people. But you must stop tricking us by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to Jehovah. Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to Jehovah. Jehovah did what Moses asked. The swarms of flies left Pharaoh, his officials, and his people. Not a single fly was left. Again Pharaoh was stubborn and did not let the people go. Then Jehovah said to Moses: Go to Pharaoh, and tell him, this is what Jehovah the God of the Hebrews says: Let my people go to serve me. If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them in slavery, Jehovah will bring a terrible plague on your livestock, including your horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep, and goats. Jehovah will distinguish between Israel's livestock and the livestock of the Egyptians. The animals belonging to the Israelites will not die.' Jehovah set a definite time: I, Jehovah, choose tomorrow as the time when I will do this. The next day Jehovah did as he had said. The Egyptian's animals all died. Not one of the animals of the Israelites died. The king asked what had happened. He was told that none of the animals of the Israelites had died. He was stubborn and would not let the people go. Then Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron: Take a few handfuls of ashes from a furnace. Moses is to throw them into the air in front of the king. They will spread out like fine dust over all the land of Egypt. They will produce boils that become open sores on the people and the animals. They got some ashes and stood before the king. Moses threw them into the air. They produced boils that became open sores on the people and the animals. The magicians were not able to appear before Moses, because they were covered with boils, like all the other Egyptians. Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he did not listen to Moses and Aaron. Everything happened just as Jehovah had told Moses. Jehovah told Moses to get up early the next morning and say to the king: God of the Hebrews commands you to let his people go, so they can serve him! If you do not, he will send his worst plagues to strike you, your officials, and everyone else in your country. Then you will find out that no one can oppose Jehovah. He could already have sent a terrible disease and wiped you from the face of the earth. I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you my power and in order to proclaim my name through all the earth. Still you exalt yourself against my people by not letting them go. At this time tomorrow, I will send a very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. Bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety. Every man and beast that is found in the field and is not brought home will die from the hail. The ones among the servants of Pharaoh who respected the word of Jehovah made his servants and his livestock flee into the houses. He who paid no regard to the word of Jehovah left his servants and his livestock in the field. Jehovah said to Moses: Stretch out your hand toward the sky. Hail will fall on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every plant of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky. Then Jehovah sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. Jehovah rained hail on the land of Egypt. It hailed, and lightning flashed while it hailed. This was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. All over Egypt the hail knocked down everything that was out in the open. It struck down people, animals, and every plant in the fields and destroyed every tree in the fields. The region of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was the only place where there was no hail. The king sent for Moses and Aaron and said: This time I have sinned. Jehovah is in the right. My people and I are in the wrong. Pray to Jehovah! We have had enough of this thunder and hail! I promise to let you go. You do not have to stay here any longer. Moses said to him: As soon as I go out of the city, I will lift up my hands in prayer to Jehovah. The thunder will stop. There will be no more hail. Thus you may know that the earth belongs to Jehovah. But I know that you and your servants do not yet respect Jehovah God. The flax and the barley were ruined, because the barley was ripe, and the flax was budding. But the wheat crops ripen later, and they were not damaged. Moses left the royal palace and the city. He lifted his arms in prayer to Jehovah. The thunder, hail, and drenching rain stopped. The king realized that the storm was over. He disobeyed once more. He and his officials were so stubborn that he refused to let the Israelites go. This was exactly what Jehovah said would happen. Jehovah told Moses: Go back to the king. I have made him and his officials stubborn, so that I could work these signs. I did this because I want you to tell your children and your grandchildren about the mighty things and the signs I have done in Egypt. Then all of you will know that I am Jehovah. Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him: Thus says Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. If you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. They shall cover the surface of the land. No one will be able to see the land. They will also eat the rest of what has escaped and is left to you from the hail. They will eat every tree that sprouts for you out of the field. Your houses shall be filled and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians. This is something neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day that they came upon the earth until this day. He turned and went out from Pharaoh.' Pharaoh's servants said to him: How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go so that they may serve Jehovah their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed? Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh. He said to them: Go! Serve Jehovah your God. Who are the ones that shall go? Moses said: We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters. We will go with our flocks and with our herds. We must hold a feast to Jehovah. He said to them: May Jehovah be with you, as I send you and your little ones away. Watch out for evil is before you. Not so! You men go now and serve Jehovah. It is you who desired it. So they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. Jehovah said to Moses: Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts. Let them come up upon the land of Egypt and eat every herb of the land, all that the hail has left. Moses held his staff over the land of Egypt. Jehovah made a wind from the east blow over the land all that day and all that night. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts. They invaded all of Egypt and landed all over the country in great swarms. Never before had there been so many locusts, nor would there ever be that many again. They covered all the ground until it was black with them. They ate all the plants and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant anywhere in Egypt. Pharaoh quickly called for Moses and Aaron and said: I have sinned against Jehovah your God and against you. Please forgive my sin one more time. Pray to Jehovah your God to take this deadly plague away from me. Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to Jehovah. Jehovah changed the wind to a very strong west wind. It picked up the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left anywhere in Egypt. But Jehovah made the king stubborn. He did not let the Israelites go. Jehovah then said to Moses: Raise your hand toward the sky. Darkness thick enough to be felt will cover the land of Egypt. Moses raised his hand toward the sky. Total darkness fell throughout Egypt for three days. The Egyptians could not see each other. No one left his house during that time. The Israelites, however, had light where they were living. The king called Moses. He said: You may go and worship Jehovah. Even your women and children may go with you. But your sheep, goats, and cattle must stay here. Moses answered: Then you would have to provide us with animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings to offer to Jehovah our God. No, we will take our animals with us! Not one will be left behind. We must select the animals with which to worship Jehovah our God. We will not know what animals to sacrifice to him until we get there. Jehovah made the king stubborn. He would not let them go. He said to Moses: Get out of my sight! Do not let me ever see you again! On the day I do, you will die! You have spoken it! Moses answered. You will never see me again.
Self-exaltation » Instances of » Pharaoh
Still you exalt yourself against my people by not letting them go.
Verse Concepts