The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you cause the people to refrain from their work? ¹  Return to your labor!”

¹ Moses returned ²  to the Lord, and said, “Lord, ³  why have you caused trouble for this people? ⁴  Why did you ever ⁵  send me?

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, ¹  for compelled by my strong hand ²  he will release them, and by my strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” ³ 

But Moses replied to ¹  the Lord, “If the Israelites did not listen to me, then ²  how will Pharaoh listen to me, since ³  I speak with difficulty?” ⁴ 

They were the men who were speaking to Pharaoh king of Egypt, in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. It was the same Moses and Aaron.

he said to him, ¹  “I am the Lord. Tell ²  Pharaoh king of Egypt all that ³  I am telling ⁴  you.”

(7:26) ¹  Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Release my people in order that they may serve me!

Moses said to Pharaoh, “You may have the honor over me ¹  – when shall I pray for you, your servants, and your people, for the frogs to be removed ²  from you and your houses, so that ³  they will be left ⁴  only in the Nile?”

The Lord did as Moses asked ¹  – the ²  frogs died out of the houses, the villages, and the fields.

and the Lord did as Moses asked ¹  – he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one remained!

¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Release my people that they may serve me!

So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh, Moses threw it into the air, and it caused festering boils to break out on both people and animals.

The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.

But the Lord hardened ¹  Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted to Moses.

So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain stopped pouring on the earth.

So Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ¹  and he did not release the Israelites, as the Lord had predicted through Moses.

So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. Exactly who is going with you?” ¹ 

Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our sheep and our cattle we will go, because we are to hold ¹  a pilgrim feast for the Lord.”

¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward heaven ²  so that there may be ³  darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness so thick it can be felt.” ⁴ 

So Moses extended his hand toward heaven, and there was absolute darkness ¹  throughout the land of Egypt for three days. ²