But Pharaoh said, &#8220;Who is the <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> that<n id="2" /> I should obey him<n id="3" /> by releasing<n id="4" /> Israel? I do not know the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="5" /> and I will not release Israel!&#8221;

The Israelite foremen whom Pharaoh&#8217;s slave masters had set over them were beaten and were asked,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Why did you not complete your requirement for brickmaking as in the past &#8211; both yesterday and today?&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<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>

Pharaoh will not listen to you.<n id="1" /> I will reach into<n id="2" /> Egypt and bring out my regiments,<n id="3" /> my people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment.

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" />

<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!

<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!

<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!

They will fill your houses, the houses of your servants, and all the houses of Egypt, such as<n id="1" /> neither<n id="2" /> your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since they have been<n id="3" /> in the land until this day!&#8217;&#8221; Then Moses<n id="4" /> turned and went out from Pharaoh.p>

<p class="bodytext">Pharaoh&#8217;s servants said to him, &#8220;How long<n id="1" /> will this man be a menace<n id="2" /> to us? Release the people so that they may serve the <sc>Lordsc> their God. Do you not know<n id="3" /> that Egypt is destroyed?&#8221;p>

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will release you from this place. When he releases you,<n id="2" /> he will drive you out completely<n id="3" /> from this place.

<p class="bodytext">(Now the <sc>Lordsc> granted the people favor with<n id="1" /> the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, respected by Pharaoh&#8217;s servants and by the Egyptian people.)<n id="2" />p>

and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh<n id="1" /> who sits on his throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

All these your servants will come down to me and bow down<n id="1" /> to me, saying, &#8216;Go, you and all the people who follow<n id="2" /> you,&#8217; and after that I will go out.&#8221; Then Moses<n id="3" /> went out from Pharaoh in great anger.p>

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">It happened<n id="2" /> at midnight &#8211; the <sc>Lordsc> attacked all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

Pharaoh got up<n id="1" /> in the night,<n id="2" /> along with all his servants and all Egypt, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no house<n id="3" /> in which there was not someone dead.

When Pharaoh stubbornly refused<n id="1" /> to release us, the <sc>Lordsc> killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of people to the firstborn of animals.<n id="2" /> That is why I am sacrificing<n id="3" /> to the <sc>Lordsc> the first male offspring of every womb, but all my firstborn sons I redeem.&#8217;

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">When Pharaoh released<n id="2" /> the people, God did not lead them<n id="3" /> by the way to the land<n id="4" /> of the Philistines,<n id="5" /> although<n id="6" /> that was nearby, for God said,<n id="7" /> &#8220;Lest<n id="8" /> the people change their minds<n id="9" /> and return to Egypt when they experience<n id="10" /> war.&#8221;