<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>

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">So Moses went back<n id="2" /> to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, &#8220;Let me go, so that I may return<n id="3" /> to my relatives<n id="4" /> in Egypt and see<n id="5" /> if they are still alive.&#8221; Jethro said to Moses, &#8220;Go in peace.&#8221;

The <sc>Lordsc> said<n id="1" /> to Moses, &#8220;When you go back to Egypt,<n id="2" /> see that you<n id="3" /> do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control.<n id="4" /> But I will harden<n id="5" /> his heart<n id="6" /> and<n id="7" /> he will not let the people go.

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke<n id="1" /> to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge<n id="2" /> for the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.p>

<p class="bodytext">Amram married<n id="1" /> his father&#8217;s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. (The length of Amram&#8217;s life was 137 years.)p>

When<n id="1" /> Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they did so, just as the <sc>Lordsc> had commanded them &#8211; Aaron threw<n id="2" /> down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake.<n id="3" />

Moses and Aaron did so,<n id="1" /> just as the <sc>Lordsc> had commanded. Moses raised<n id="2" /> the staff<n id="3" /> and struck the water that was in the Nile right before the eyes<n id="4" /> of Pharaoh and his servants,<n id="5" /> and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.<n id="6" />

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Moses, &#8220;Tell Aaron, &#8216;Extend your hand with your staff<n id="1" /> over the rivers, over the canals, and over the ponds, and bring the frogs up over the land of Egypt.&#8217;&#8221;

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;Tell Aaron, &#8216;Extend your staff and strike the dust of the ground, and it will become<n id="2" /> gnats<n id="3" /> throughout all the land of Egypt.&#8217;&#8221;

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc><n id="2" /> said to Moses, &#8220;Get up early in the morning and position yourself before Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, and tell him, &#8216;Thus says the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;Release my people that they may serve me!

But Moses said, &#8220;That would not be the right thing to do,<n id="1" /> for the sacrifices we make<n id="2" /> to the <sc>Lordsc> our God would be an abomination<n id="3" /> to the Egyptians.<n id="4" /> If we make sacrifices that are an abomination to the Egyptians right before their eyes,<n id="5" /> will they not stone us?<n id="6" />

<p class="bodytext">Moses said, &#8220;I am going to go out<n id="1" /> from you and pray to the <sc>Lordsc>, and the swarms of flies will go away from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow. Only do not let Pharaoh deal falsely again<n id="2" /> by not releasing<n id="3" /> the people to sacrifice to the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said<n id="2" /> to Moses, &#8220;Get up early in the morning, stand<n id="3" /> before Pharaoh, and tell him, &#8216;Thus says the <sc>Lordsc>, the God of the Hebrews: &#8220;Release my people so that they may serve me!

<p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;Extend your hand toward the sky<n id="1" /> that there may be<n id="2" /> hail in all the land of Egypt, on people and on animals,<n id="3" /> and on everything that grows<n id="4" /> in the field in the land of Egypt.&#8221;

When Moses extended<n id="1" /> his staff toward the sky, the <sc>Lordsc><n id="2" /> sent thunder<n id="3" /> and hail, and fire fell to the earth;<n id="4" /> so the <sc>Lordsc> caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.

<p class="bodytext">Moses said to him, &#8220;When I leave the city<n id="1" /> I will spread my hands to the <sc>Lordsc>, the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" />

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said<n id="2" /> to Moses, &#8220;Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display<n id="3" /> these signs of mine before him,<n id="4" />

<p class="bodytext">So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and told him, &#8220;Thus says the <sc>Lordsc>, the God of the Hebrews: &#8216;How long do you refuse<n id="1" /> to humble yourself before me?<n id="2" /> Release my people so that they may serve me!

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;Extend your hand over the land of Egypt for<n id="1" /> the locusts, that they may come up over the land of Egypt and eat everything that grows<n id="2" /> in the ground, everything that the hail has left.&#8221;

So Moses extended his staff over the land of Egypt, and then the <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> brought<n id="2" /> an east wind on the land all that day and all night.<n id="3" /> The morning came,<n id="4" /> and the east wind had brought up<n id="5" /> the locusts!