But Moses replied to<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;If the Israelites did not listen to me, then<n id="2" /> how will Pharaoh listen to me, since<n id="3" /> I speak with difficulty?&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

And now, if you will diligently listen to me<n id="1" /> and keep<n id="2" /> my covenant, then you will be my<n id="3" /> special possession<n id="4" /> out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine,

If you afflict them<n id="1" /> in any way<n id="2" /> and they cry to me, I will surely hear<n id="3" /> their cry,

But if you diligently obey him<n id="1" /> and do all that I command, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will be an adversary to your adversaries.

<p class="poetry">The nations will hear<n id="1" /> and tremble;p> <p class="poetry">anguish<n id="2" /> will seize<n id="3" /> the inhabitants of Philistia.p>

<p class="bodytext">Moses listened to<n id="1" /> his father-in-law and did everything he had said.

But Moses said before the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;Since I speak with difficulty,<n id="1" /> why should Pharaoh listen to me?&#8221;p>

Yet Pharaoh&#8217;s heart became hard,<n id="1" /> and he did not listen to them, just as the <sc>Lordsc> had predicted.p>

When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted,<n id="1" /> he said to Moses, &#8220;It is the sound of war in the camp!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">When the people heard this troubling word<n id="1" /> they mourned;<n id="2" /> no one put on his ornaments.

He said, &#8220;If you will diligently obey<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> your God, and do what is right<n id="2" /> in his sight, and pay attention<n id="3" /> to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then all<n id="4" /> the diseases<n id="5" /> that I brought on the Egyptians I will not bring on you, for I, the <sc>Lord,sc> am your healer.&#8221;<n id="6" />p>

God heard their groaning,<n id="1" /> God remembered<n id="2" /> his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob,

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8220;I have surely seen<n id="1" /> the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.<n id="2" />

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">Moses answered again,<n id="2" /> &#8220;And if<n id="3" /> they do not believe me or pay attention to me,<n id="4" /> but say, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> has not appeared to you&#8217;?&#8221;

&#8220;If<n id="1" /> they do not believe you or pay attention to<n id="2" /> the former sign, then they may<n id="3" /> believe the latter sign.<n id="4" />

and the people believed. When they heard<n id="1" /> that the <sc>Lordsc> had attended to<n id="2" /> the Israelites and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed down close to the ground.<n id="3" />p>

I<n id="1" /> have also heard<n id="2" /> the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving,<n id="3" /> and I have remembered my covenant.<n id="4" />

<n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">Moses told this<n id="2" /> to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him<n id="3" /> because of their discouragement<n id="4" /> and hard labor.

Tell him, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc>, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you to say,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Release my people, that they may serve me<n id="2" /> in the desert!&#8221; But until now<n id="3" /> you have not listened.<n id="4" />

But the magicians of Egypt did the same<n id="1" /> by their secret arts, and so<n id="2" /> Pharaoh&#8217;s heart remained hard,<n id="3" /> and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron<n id="4" /> &#8211; just as the <sc>Lordsc> had predicted.