Exodus 10

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh. I have made his heart stubborn, and the hearts of his officials too, so that I can do these signs of mine in front of him.

1And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him:

NoteWhere the King James prints LORD in capital letters, it stands in for the personal name of God in Hebrew, four consonants usually written YHWH. Ancient Jewish practice was to say "the Lord" rather than pronounce the name aloud, and English translations have followed that custom ever since. "Hardened his heart": in Hebrew the heart is the seat of thinking, willing and deciding rather than of feeling, so the phrase describes a mind set immovably, not a cold or unfeeling personality.

2I have also done this so that you can tell your children and your grandchildren how hard I dealt with Egypt, and about the signs I did among them. Then all of you will know that I am the LORD."

2And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the LORD.

NoteThe Hebrew verb behind "what things I have wrought" can mean to deal severely with someone or to make sport of them; both senses are live here, and translations split between them. "Signs" renders a word for a display meant to be read as evidence (something that proves who is acting), rather than simply a marvel.

3So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so they can worship me.

3And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.

Note"Hebrews" is the term outsiders use for the Israelites in these stories; Egyptians and Philistines call them that, and they mostly call themselves Israel. The word translated "serve" covers both forced labor and religious service: it is the same word used for the slave work the Israelites do for Pharaoh. The demand is that they be released from serving one master in order to serve another.

4If you refuse to let my people go, then tomorrow I will bring locusts into your land.

4Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast:

Note"Coast" in 1611 English meant border or territory, with no connection to the sea. Locusts are migratory grasshoppers which, under the right conditions, breed into swarms of many millions and strip a whole region of vegetation within hours; such swarms were a known and dreaded catastrophe across the ancient Near East.

5They will cover the ground so that no one can see the dirt. They will eat whatever survived the hail and is still left to you, and they will eat every tree that grows for you in the fields.

5And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field:

NoteThe hail was the plague immediately before this one (chapter 9). It destroyed the flax and barley, which were ripe, but the wheat and spelt were still young in the ground and survived. Those surviving crops are what the locusts are now promised.

6They will fill your houses, and the houses of all your officials, and the houses of all the Egyptians. Your fathers and your grandfathers never saw anything like it, from the day they were born until now." Then Moses turned and walked out from Pharaoh.

6And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh.

NoteThe Hebrew reads literally "from the day they were upon the ground until this day," which can be understood either as "since they were born" or as "since they came to be in this land." Translations divide between the two.

7Pharaoh's officials said to him, "How long will this man keep trapping us? Let the men go, so they can worship the LORD their God. Don't you understand yet that Egypt is ruined?"

7And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?

NoteThe word translated "snare" means a bird trap, properly the baited stick that springs it. The officials are saying Moses has become the thing that keeps catching them.

8So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, "Go, worship the LORD your God. But exactly who is going?"

8And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the LORD your God: but who are they that shall go?

9Moses said, "We will go with our young people and our old people, with our sons and our daughters, and with our sheep, goats, and cattle, because we must hold a festival to the LORD."

9And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the LORD.

Note"Feast" here does not mean a large meal. The Hebrew word means a pilgrimage festival: a journey to a particular place, with sacrifices, lasting several days. That is why Moses claims the whole population and all the animals are required.

10Pharaoh said to them, "May the LORD be with you as surely as I will ever let you go with your children! Watch out, because evil is before you.

10And he said unto them, Let the LORD be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you.

NotePharaoh is being sarcastic: may the LORD be with you exactly as much as I will let you go with your children: that is, not at all. "Little ones" translates a Hebrew word covering dependants generally, young children and often the women with them, not merely infants. "Evil is before you" is genuinely ambiguous: it can mean "you are plainly up to no good," or it can be a threat, "trouble lies ahead of you."

11No. Only the men may go and worship the LORD, since that is what you were asking for." Then they were driven out of Pharaoh's presence.

11Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

NoteThe word used here means adult males specifically. The effect of Pharaoh's counter-offer would be to keep the families and livestock in Egypt, which guarantees the men come back.

12The LORD said to Moses, "Reach out your hand over the land of Egypt to bring the locusts, so they may come up over the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land, everything the hail has left."

12And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left.

Note"Herb" in the King James means any green growing plant, not a cooking herb.

13So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD sent an east wind across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts.

13And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.

NoteThe "rod" is a shepherd's staff, a walking-length wooden stick, not a rod for striking. The east wind blows off the deserts of Sinai and Arabia; it is hot and dry, and it is in fact the wind that carries locust swarms into Egypt from their breeding grounds.

14The locusts came up over the whole land of Egypt and settled everywhere inside its borders. There were huge numbers of them. There had never been such a swarm of locusts before, and there never will be again.

14And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.

Note"Grievous" in the King James here means heavy or massive in quantity, not distressing. "Coasts" again means borders or territory.

15They covered the ground everywhere until the land was dark. They ate every plant in the land and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant anywhere in Egypt.

15For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

16Then Pharaoh quickly sent for Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you.

16Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you.

17Now please forgive my sin just this once, and ask the LORD your God to take this deadly plague away from me."

17Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death only.

Note"Intreat" in the King James means to plead with someone on another person's behalf. Pharaoh asks for the removal of "this death": in Hebrew he names the plague itself as death rather than describing what it is doing.

18So Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD.

18And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD.

19The LORD turned the wind into a very strong west wind. It picked up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left anywhere inside Egypt's borders.

19And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.

NoteThe Hebrew calls this a "sea wind." The Mediterranean lies to Egypt's north and west, so a wind off the sea comes from that direction. "Red sea" translates the Hebrew yam suph, which means something more like "sea of reeds"; which stretch of water it names (the Gulf of Suez, the Gulf of Aqaba, or a reedy lake in the eastern Nile delta) is disputed.

20But the LORD made Pharaoh's heart stubborn, and he would not let the Israelites go.

20But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.

NoteHebrew uses two different verbs across these chapters for what happens to Pharaoh's heart, one meaning to make heavy and one meaning to make strong or firm. The narrative alternates between saying Pharaoh hardened his own heart and saying the LORD hardened it, without ever remarking on the shift.

21Then the LORD said to Moses, "Reach out your hand toward the sky, so that darkness spreads over the land of Egypt, a darkness thick enough to feel."

21And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.

NoteThe Hebrew is deliberately odd, roughly "and let one feel darkness," darkness thick enough to grope at. Egypt's spring khamsin winds can carry enough sand to blot out the sun for days at a time, and the wording has often been connected with that.

22So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and for three days there was thick darkness over all the land of Egypt.

22And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:

23People could not see one another, and for three days no one got up from where he was. But all the Israelites had light where they lived.

23They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

24Then Pharaoh called for Moses and said, "Go, worship the LORD. Your children may go with you too. Only your sheep, goats, and cattle must stay behind."

24And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you.

25Moses said, "You must also give us animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings, so we can offer them to the LORD our God.

25And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the LORD our God.

NoteTwo distinct things. A "sacrifice" was an animal killed at the altar and then largely eaten by the worshipers as a shared meal. A "burnt offering" was burned whole on the altar, with nothing kept back for anyone to eat. Moses is demanding that Pharaoh himself supply animals for both.

26Our livestock must go with us too. Not one hoof will be left behind, because we must take some of them to worship the LORD our God. And we do not know what we will need to worship the LORD until we get there."

26Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the LORD our God; and we know not with what we must serve the LORD, until we come thither.

Note"Not a hoof shall be left behind" is a set expression meaning not one animal, down to the last. It is a flat refusal of the condition Pharaoh set in verse 24.

27But the LORD made Pharaoh's heart stubborn, and he was not willing to let them go.

27But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go.

28Pharaoh said to Moses, "Get away from me! Be careful never to see my face again, because the day you see my face, you will die."

28And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die.

Note"To see the king's face" was court language for being admitted to the royal presence for an audience. Pharaoh is not forbidding eye contact; he is canceling Moses' right of access to him, and attaching the death penalty to it.

29Moses answered, "You have said it well. I will never see your face again."

29And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more.