Month: February 2020

The books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers continue the story of how God formed the nation of Israel to play a special role in his plans for the whole world. When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, God came to them and worked powerfully through Moses to deliver them. At Mount Sinai, God revealed his laws to Moses, including the Ten Commandments, and confirmed his covenant with the young nation. Israel built a “tabernacle,” or “tent of meeting,” so that God could live among them. The people then traveled through the wilderness to the land of Canaan.

The boundaries between the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers are not sharply drawn. The key structure throughout the books relates to the various places the Israelites stopped on their journey. Each location is noted, and the events at each one are described. The key location is Mount Sinai; the second half of Exodus, all of Leviticus, and the beginning of Numbers describe what took place there. Leviticus specifically contains the laws and regulations the

Lord

gave to Israel. Numbers reports how the people were organized into a fighting force and moved toward the promised land.

Numbers reaches back across Leviticus and Exodus and repeats the phrase that structures Genesis:

This is the account of the family of Aaron and Moses

(

Num. 3:1

). Appropriately, we hear this phrase for the twelfth time as the twelve tribes are being organized into a nation. Near the end of Numbers the prophet Balaam says to Israel,

May those who bless you be blessed and those who curse you be cursed.

This recalls God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis,

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.

These references show that together these books tell a single story of the beginning of God’s redemptive work in the world.

The Israelites Oppressed

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;

3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;

4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.

5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventyin all; Joseph was already in Egypt.

6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,

7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.

9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us.

10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites

13 and worked them ruthlessly.

14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,

16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”

17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.

18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”

20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous.

21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/EXO/1-5e0e80d3277741a68a96615d247e703a.mp3?version_id=111—

The Birth of Moses

1 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman,

2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.

3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basketfor him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it.

6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother.

9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.

10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses,saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

Moses Flees to Midian

11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.

12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”

14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.

16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock.

17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”

19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”

21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom,saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.

25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/EXO/2-7e7a5900280bb69e01c6c52cfbf4fef0.mp3?version_id=111—

Moses and the Burning Bush

1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

2 There the angel of theLordappeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.

3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

4 When theLordsaw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father,the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

7 TheLordsaid, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.

8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.

10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, youwill worship God on this mountain.”

13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I amhas sent me to you.’ ”

15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘TheLord,the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

“This is my name forever,

the name you shall call me

from generation to generation.

16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘TheLord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.

17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

18 “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘TheLord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to theLordour God.’

19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him.

20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

21 “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed.

22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/EXO/3-b12a3d8a1202656ff3c86cf14e61ac1c.mp3?version_id=111—

Signs for Moses

1 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘TheLorddid not appear to you’?”

2 Then theLordsaid to him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

3 TheLordsaid, “Throw it on the ground.”

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

4 Then theLordsaid to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

5 “This,” said theLord, “is so that they may believe that theLord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

6 Then theLordsaid, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.

7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

8 Then theLordsaid, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second.

9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”

10 Moses said to theLord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

11 TheLordsaid to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, theLord?

12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

14 Then theLord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you.

15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.

16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.

17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

18 Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.”

Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.”

19 Now theLordhad said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.”

20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

21 TheLordsaid to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what theLordsays: Israel is my firstborn son,

23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”

24 At a lodging place on the way, theLordmet Mosesand was about to kill him.

25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it.“Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.

26 So theLordlet him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

27 TheLordsaid to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.

28 Then Moses told Aaron everything theLordhad sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform.

29 Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites,

30 and Aaron told them everything theLordhad said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people,

31 and they believed. And when they heard that theLordwas concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/EXO/4-46f7ed7fdb6f9f65cec2130e57bb29ff.mp3?version_id=111—

Bricks Without Straw

1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what theLord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’ ”

2 Pharaoh said, “Who is theLord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know theLordand I will not let Israel go.”

3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to theLordour God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”

4 But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!”

5 Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.”

6 That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people:

7 “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw.

8 But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’

9 Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.”

10 Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw.

11 Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.’ ”

12 So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw.

13 The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.”

14 And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”

15 Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way?

16 Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”

17 Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to theLord.’

18 Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”

19 The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.”

20 When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them,

21 and they said, “May theLordlook on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

God Promises Deliverance

22 Moses returned to theLordand said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me?

23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/EXO/5-2eb7b61c9a0a0c40a6cf40b67e2cd5f1.mp3?version_id=111—

1 Then theLordsaid to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”

2 God also said to Moses, “I am theLord.

3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty,but by my name theLordI did not make myself fully known to them.

4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners.

5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.

6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am theLord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am theLordyour God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.

8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am theLord.’ ”

9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.

10 Then theLordsaid to Moses,

11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.”

12 But Moses said to theLord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?”

Family Record of Moses and Aaron

13 Now theLordspoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

14 These were the heads of their families:

The sons of Reuben the firstborn son of Israel were Hanok and Pallu, Hezron and Karmi. These were the clans of Reuben.

15 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon.

16 These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.

17 The sons of Gershon, by clans, were Libni and Shimei.

18 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years.

19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi.

These were the clans of Levi according to their records.

20 Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, who bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.

21 The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg and Zikri.

22 The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri.

23 Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

24 The sons of Korah were: Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These were the Korahite clans.

25 Eleazar son of Aaron married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas.

These were the heads of the Levite families, clan by clan.

26 It was this Aaron and Moses to whom theLordsaid, “Bring the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.”

27 They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing the Israelites out of Egypt—this same Moses and Aaron.

Aaron to Speak for Moses

28 Now when theLordspoke to Moses in Egypt,

29 he said to him, “I am theLord. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.”

30 But Moses said to theLord, “Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/EXO/6-8ce296f944aa6aeff891fa204907d1c0.mp3?version_id=111—

1 Then theLordsaid to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.

2 You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.

3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt,

4 he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.

5 And the Egyptians will know that I am theLordwhen I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”

6 Moses and Aaron did just as theLordcommanded them.

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

Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Snake

8 TheLordsaid to Moses and Aaron,

9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”

10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as theLordcommanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake.

11 Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts:

12 Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as theLordhad said.

The Plague of Blood

14 Then theLordsaid to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.

15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.

16 Then say to him, ‘TheLord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened.

17 This is what theLordsays: By this you will know that I am theLord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.

18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’ ”

19 TheLordsaid to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vesselsof wood and stone.”

20 Moses and Aaron did just as theLordhad commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood.

21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as theLordhad said.

23 Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart.

24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river.

The Plague of Frogs

25 Seven days passed after theLordstruck the Nile.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/EXO/7-a722f756a1c171c9b687d5f162c00a26.mp3?version_id=111—

1 Then theLordsaid to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what theLordsays: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

2 If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country.

3 The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs.

4 The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’ ”

5 Then theLordsaid to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’ ”

6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land.

7 But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

8 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to theLordto take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to theLord.”

9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile.”

10 “Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said.

Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like theLordour God.

11 The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.”

12 After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to theLordabout the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh.

13 And theLorddid what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields.

14 They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them.

15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as theLordhad said.

The Plague of Gnats

16 Then theLordsaid to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.”

17 They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats.

18 But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not.

Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere,

19 the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as theLordhad said.

The Plague of Flies

20 Then theLordsaid to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what theLordsays: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

21 If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.

22 “ ‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, theLord, am in this land.

23 I will make a distinctionbetween my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’ ”

24 And theLorddid this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.

25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”

26 But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer theLordour God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us?

27 We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to theLordour God, as he commands us.”

28 Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to theLordyour God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

29 Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to theLord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only let Pharaoh be sure that he does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to theLord.”

30 Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to theLord,

31 and theLorddid what Moses asked. The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained.

32 But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/EXO/8-1ca23149b22d69227d828bfb1f1b0778.mp3?version_id=111—