A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Exodus 10
Exodus 10 is the tenth chapter of the book of Exodus and the chapter of the eighth and ninth plagues: locusts and darkness. The 29-verse chapter shows Pharaoh's officials finally begging him to relent, two more failed compromises, and a final exchange in which Moses leaves Pharaoh's presence for the last time.
The chapter opens with the LORD telling Moses to go to Pharaoh again. "How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me?" the LORD asks through Moses. If Pharaoh refuses, locusts will come the next day and cover the face of the land. They will fill houses across Egypt and consume whatever was left after the hail. Pharaoh's officials, for the first time, urge him to relent: "Do you not yet realize that Egypt is in ruins?" Pharaoh calls Moses and Aaron back and asks who exactly will go. Moses answers that all of them must go, young and old, sons and daughters, flocks and herds, because it is a feast to the LORD. Pharaoh refuses; only the men may go. He drives them out of his presence.
Moses stretches his staff over Egypt. The LORD sends an east wind all that day and all that night. By morning the wind has brought the locusts. They settle over the whole country in numbers Egypt has never seen and will never see again. They cover the ground until it is black. They eat every plant and every fruit the hail had left. Pharaoh hurriedly summons Moses and Aaron. "I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you," he says. Moses prays. The LORD sends a strong west wind that lifts the locusts and drives them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust is left in all Egypt. But the LORD hardens Pharaoh's heart, and he does not let the Israelites go.
The LORD then tells Moses to stretch his hand toward the sky. Total darkness falls over Egypt. It lasts three days. The darkness can be felt. No one can see anyone else, and no one moves from his place for those three days. But all the Israelites have light in their dwellings.
Pharaoh summons Moses one last time. He will let the people and their children go; only the flocks and herds must stay. Moses refuses: "Not a hoof will be left behind, for we will need some of them to worship the LORD our God." The LORD hardens Pharaoh's heart again. Pharaoh tells Moses, "Depart from me! Make sure you never see my face again, for on the day you see my face you will die." Moses answers, "You yourself have spoken correctly. I will never see your face again."
Verse 1. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials, that I may perform these miraculous signs of Mine among them,
Verse 2. and that you may tell your children and grandchildren how severely I dealt with the Egyptians when I performed miraculous signs among them, so that all of you may know that I am the LORD.”
Verse 3. So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.
Verse 4. But if you refuse to let My people go, I will bring locusts into your territory tomorrow.
Verse 5. They will cover the face of the land so that no one can see it. They will devour whatever is left after the hail and eat every tree that grows in your fields.
Verse 6. They will fill your houses and the houses of all your officials and every Egyptian—something neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since the day they came into this land.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh’s presence.
Verse 7. Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt lies in ruins?”
Verse 8. So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the LORD your God,” he said. “But who exactly will be going?”
Verse 9. “We will go with our young and old,” Moses replied. “We will go with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”
Verse 10. Then Pharaoh told them, “May the LORD be with you if I ever let you go with your little ones. Clearly you are bent on evil.
Verse 11. No, only the men may go and worship the LORD, since that is what you have been requesting.” And Moses and Aaron were driven from Pharaoh’s presence.
Verse 12. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may swarm over it and devour every plant in the land—everything that the hail has left behind.”
Verse 13. So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and throughout that day and night the LORD sent an east wind across the land. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts.
Verse 14. The locusts swarmed across the land and settled over the entire territory of Egypt. Never before had there been so many locusts, and never again will there be.
Verse 15. They covered the face of all the land until it was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left behind. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.
Verse 16. Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you.
Verse 17. Now please forgive my sin once more and appeal to the LORD your God, that He may remove this death from me.”
Verse 18. So Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and appealed to the LORD.
Verse 19. And the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind that carried off the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust remained anywhere in Egypt.
Verse 20. But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.
Verse 21. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.”
Verse 22. So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days.
Verse 23. No one could see anyone else, and for three days no one left his place. Yet all the Israelites had light in their dwellings.
Verse 24. Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the LORD. Even your little ones may go with you; only your flocks and herds must stay behind.”
Verse 25. But Moses replied, “You must also provide us with sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the LORD our God.
Verse 26. Even our livestock must go with us; not a hoof will be left behind, for we will need some of them to worship the LORD our God, and we will not know how we are to worship the LORD until we arrive.”
Verse 27. But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go.
Verse 28. “Depart from me!” Pharaoh said to Moses. “Make sure you never see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you will die.”
Verse 29. “As you say,” Moses replied, “I will never see your face again.”
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