<t /><p class="bodytext">Now the famine was severe in the land.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">A stone is heavy and sand is weighty,p> <p class="poetry">but vexation<n id="1" /> by a fool is more burdensome<n id="2" /> than the two of them.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt<n id="1" /> to stay for a while<n id="2" /> because the famine was severe.<n id="3" />

Chariots and horsemen also went up with him, so it was a very large entourage.<n id="1" />p>

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;Pharaoh&#8217;s heart is hard;<n id="2" /> he refuses to release<n id="3" /> the people.

A mixed multitude<n id="1" /> also went up with them, and flocks and herds &#8211; a very large number of cattle.<n id="2" />

I am not able to bear this entire people alone,<n id="1" /> because it<n id="2" /> is too heavy for me!

<p class="bodytext">But he said, &#8220;You may not pass through.&#8221; Then Edom came out against them<n id="1" /> with a large and powerful force.<n id="2" />

So he sent horses and chariots there, along with a good-sized army.<n id="1" /> They arrived during the night and surrounded the city.p>

<p class="poetry">For my sins overwhelm me;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.p>

<p class="bodytext">Then Moses said to the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" /> &#8220;O<n id="2" /> my Lord,<n id="3" /> I am not an eloquent man,<n id="4" /> neither in the past<n id="5" /> nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.&#8221;<n id="6" />p>

The previous abundance of the land will not be remembered<n id="1" /> because of the famine that follows, for the famine will be very severe.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">But there was no food in all the land because the famine was very severe; the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan wasted away<n id="1" /> because of the famine.

<p class="bodytext">When they came to the threshing floor of Atad<n id="1" /> on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned there with very great and bitter sorrow.<n id="2" /> There Joseph observed a seven day period of mourning for his father.

The <sc>Lordsc> did so; a<n id="1" /> thick<n id="2" /> swarm of flies came into<n id="3" /> Pharaoh&#8217;s house and into the houses<n id="4" /> of his servants, and throughout the whole land of Egypt the land was ruined<n id="5" /> because of the swarms of flies.p>

then the hand of the <sc>Lordsc> will surely bring<n id="1" /> a very terrible plague<n id="2" /> on your livestock in the field, on the horses, the donkeys, the camels,<n id="3" /> the herds, and the flocks.

I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down<n id="1" /> about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred<n id="2" /> in Egypt from the day it was founded<n id="3" /> until now.

Hail fell<n id="1" /> and fire mingled<n id="2" /> with the hail; the hail was so severe<n id="3" /> that there had not been any like it<n id="4" /> in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

You will surely wear out,<n id="1" /> both you and these people who are with you, for this is too<n id="2" /> heavy a burden<n id="3" /> for you; you are not able to do it by yourself.

&#8220;Your father made us work too hard.<n id="1" /> Now if you lighten the demands he made and don&#8217;t make us work as hard, we will serve you.&#8221;<n id="2" />