The Egyptians piled them in countless heaps, and the land stank.

They covered the surface of all the ground, so that the ground became dark with them, and they ate all the vegetation of the ground and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green remained on the trees or on anything that grew in the fields throughout the whole land of Egypt.

The Israelites, however, were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong, so that the land was filled with them.

Pharaoh was thinking, “The people of the land are now many, and you are giving them rest from their labor.”

The Egyptians were urging the people on, in order to send them out of the land quickly, for they were saying, “We are all dead!”

Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you become fruitful and inherit the land.

They did so; Aaron extended his hand with his staff, he struck the dust of the ground, and it became gnats on people and on animals. All the dust of the ground became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.

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.

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.

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.

For seven days yeast must not be found in your houses, for whoever eats what is made with yeast – that person will be cut off from the community of Israel, whether a foreigner or one born in the land.

When you enter the land that the Lord will give to you, just as he said, you must observe this ceremony.

When the layer of dew had evaporated, there on the surface of the desert was a thin flaky substance, thin like frost on the earth.

And now, if you will diligently listen to me and keep my covenant, then you will be my special possession out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine,

I will not drive them out before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals multiply against you.

Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it become a snare among you.

Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone invites you, you will eat from his sacrifice;

Come, let’s deal wisely with them. Otherwise they will continue to multiply, and if a war breaks out, they will ally themselves with our enemies and fight against us and leave the country.”

I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.