Pharaoh

ADONAI said to Moshe, "Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Here is what ADONAI says: "Let my people go, so that they can worship me.

Then Pharaoh summoned Moshe and Aharon and said, "Intercede with ADONAI to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let the people go and sacrifice to ADONAI."

Moshe said to Pharaoh, "Not only that, but you can have the honor of naming the time when I will pray for you, your servants and your people to be rid of the frogs, both yourselves and your homes, and that they stay only in the river."

Moshe and Aharon left Pharaoh's presence, and Moshe cried to ADONAI about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh.

But when Pharaoh saw that he had been given some relief, he made himself hardhearted and would not listen to them, just as ADONAI had said would happen.

Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." But Pharaoh was made hardhearted, so that he didn't listen to them, just as ADONAI had said would happen.

ADONAI said to Moshe, "Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh when he goes out to the water and say to him, 'Here is what ADONAI says: "Let my people go, so that they can worship me.

ADONAI did it: terrible swarms of insects went into Pharaoh's palace and into all his servants'houses - the insects ruined the entire land of Egypt.

Pharaoh summoned Moshe and Aharon and said, "Go, and sacrifice to your God here in the land."

Pharaoh said, "I will let you go, so that you can sacrifice to ADONAI your God in the desert. Only you are not to go very far away. Intercede on my behalf."

Moshe said, "All right, I am going away from you, and I will intercede with ADONAI; so that tomorrow, the swarms of insects will leave Pharaoh, his servants and his people. Just make sure that Pharaoh stops playing games with the people by preventing them from going and sacrificing to ADONAI."

Moshe left Pharaoh and interceded with ADONAI,

and ADONAI did what Moshe had asked: he removed the swarms of insects from Pharaoh, his servants and his people -not one remained.

But this time, too, Pharaoh made himself stubborn and didn't let the people go.

Then ADONAI said to Moshe, "Go to Pharaoh, and tell him, 'Here is what ADONAI, the God of the Hebrews, says: "Let my people go, so that they can worship me.

Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of the animals of the people of Isra'el had died. Nevertheless, Pharaoh's heart remained stubborn, and he didn't let the people go.

ADONAI said to Moshe and Aharon, "Take handfuls of ashes from a kiln, and let Moshe throw them in the air before Pharaoh's eyes.

So they took ashes from a kiln, stood in front of Pharaoh and threw them in the air; and they became infected sores on men and animals.

But ADONAI made Pharaoh hardhearted, so that he didn't listen to them -just as ADONAI had said to Moshe.

ADONAI said to Moshe, "Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, 'Here is what ADONAI says: "Let my people go, so that they can worship me.

Whoever among Pharaoh's servants feared what ADONAI had said had his slaves and livestock escape into the houses;

Pharaoh summoned Moshe and Aharon and said to them, "This time I have sinned: ADONAI is in the right; I and my people are in the wrong.

Moshe went out of the city, away from Pharaoh, and spread out his hands to ADONAI. The thunder and hail ended, and the rain stopped pouring down on the earth.

When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail and thunder had ended, he sinned still more by making himself hardhearted, he and his servants.

Pharaoh was made hardhearted, and he didn't let the people of Isra'el go, just as ADONAI had said through Moshe.