The king of Egypt said to them, &#8220;Moses and Aaron, why do you cause the people to refrain from their work?<n id="1" /> Return to your labor!&#8221;

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" />

I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God.<n id="1" /> Then you will know that I am the <sc>Lordsc> your God, who brought you out from your enslavement to<n id="2" /> the Egyptians.

<p class="bodytext">It was the same Aaron and Moses to whom the <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8220;Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their regiments.&#8221;<n id="1" />

he said to him,<n id="1" /> &#8220;I am the <sc>Lordsc>. Tell<n id="2" /> Pharaoh king of Egypt all that<n id="3" /> I am telling<n id="4" /> you.&#8221;

When the fish<n id="1" /> that were in the Nile died, the Nile began<n id="2" /> to stink, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood<n id="3" /> everywhere in the land of Egypt!

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.

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>

But the Lord will distinguish<n id="1" /> between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing<n id="2" /> will die of all that the Israelites have.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

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.

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;Extend your hand toward heaven<n id="2" /> so that there may be<n id="3" /> darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness so thick it can be felt.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">So Moses extended his hand toward heaven, and there was absolute darkness<n id="1" /> throughout the land of Egypt for three days.<n id="2" />

There will be a great cry throughout the whole land of Egypt, such as there has never been,<n id="1" /> nor ever will be again.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my wonders<n id="1" /> may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.&#8221;p>

At the end of the 430 years, on the very day, all the regiments<n id="1" /> of the <sc>Lordsc> went out of the land of Egypt.

It was a night of vigil for the <sc>Lordsc> to bring them out from the land of Egypt,<n id="1" /> and so<n id="2" /> on this night all Israel is to keep the vigil<n id="3" /> to the <sc>Lordsc> for generations to come.p>

And on this very day the <sc>Lordsc> brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their regiments.p>

<n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">In the future,<n id="2" /> when your son asks you<n id="3" /> &#8216;What is this?&#8217;<n id="4" /> you are to tell him, &#8216;With a mighty hand<n id="5" /> the <sc>Lordsc> brought us out from Egypt, from the land of slavery.<n id="6" />

It will be for a sign on your hand and for frontlets<n id="1" /> on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the <sc>Lordsc> brought us out of Egypt.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>