Exodus 7-12

New Catholic Bible

Chapter 7

¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Look, I have made you like a God to Pharaoh; Aaron will be your prophet.^{[a] 2} You will tell him what I have commanded you. Aaron, your brother, will tell Pharaoh to permit the children of Israel to leave his land. ³ But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴ Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will lay my hand upon Egypt and I will make my hosts leave Egypt, the children of Israel, with great acts of judgment.

⁵ “The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the children of Israel out from their midst.”

⁶ Moses and Aaron did what the Lord had commanded them to do. ⁷ Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

The Plagues of Egypt^[b]

Aaron’s Staff Turned into a Snake. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourself by performing a wondrous deed,’ you will say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it in front of Pharaoh and it will become a serpent.’ ” ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron then went to Pharaoh and did what the Lord had commanded them to do. Aaron threw his staff in front of Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. ¹¹ Pharaoh gathered the wise men and sorcerers and even the magicians of Egypt. With their magic they did the same thing. ¹² Each one threw his staff and the staffs became serpents, but the staff of Aaron swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Yet the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

¹⁴ First Plague: Water Turned into Blood.^[c] The Lord said to Moses, “The heart of Pharaoh is hardened. He refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning when he goes out to the water and stand in front of him on the Nile riverbank and take the staff in your hand that was changed into a serpent. ¹⁶ Then you will tell him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you, ‘Let my people go so that they can serve me in the desert. Up to now you have not obeyed.’ ¹⁷ The Lord says, ‘By this you will know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters of the Nile with the staff that I have in my hand, and they will change into blood. ¹⁸ The fish in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become putrid so that the Egyptians will not be able to drink from the Nile.” ’ ”

¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “Command Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, their ponds, and over all their supplies of water. They will turn into blood and there will be blood in all of the land of Egypt, even in their wood and stone jars.’ ”

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did what the Lord had commanded. Aaron raised his staff and struck the waters of the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants. All the waters of the Nile changed into blood. ²¹ The fish in the Nile died, and the Nile became putrid, so that the Egyptians could not drink the water. There was blood in the entire land of Egypt. ²² But the magicians of Egypt, with their magic, did the same thing. The heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.^{[d] 23} Pharaoh turned his back on them and went into his house and did not even pay attention to these things. ²⁴ All the Egyptians dug along the Nile to find water to drink because they could not drink the water in the Nile.

²⁵ Second Plague: The Frogs. Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile. ^26 [e]The Lord said to Moses, “Go to speak to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go to serve me. ²⁷ If you refuse to let them go, then I will strike your land with frogs. ²⁸ The Nile will swarm with frogs. They will come out and go into your houses, into the rooms where you sleep and up on your beds, into the houses of your ministers and your people, even into your ovens and your kneading bowls. ²⁹ The frogs will come out and climb over you and your ministers.” ’ ”

Chapter 8

¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Command Aaron: ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the waters, over the canals and pools, and make frogs come out all over the land of Egypt.’ ”

² Aaron extended his hand over the waters of Egypt and frogs came out and covered the land of Egypt. ³ But the magicians, with their magic, did the same thing and made frogs to come up out all over the land of Egypt.

⁴ Pharaoh had Moses and Aaron summoned and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me, and my people and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”

⁵ Moses said to Pharaoh, “Do me the honor of telling me when I should pray for you and your ministers and your people, to free you and your house from frogs, so that they only remain in the waters of the Nile.”

⁶ He answered, “Tomorrow.” Then Moses said, “As you say. In order that you may know that there is no equal to the Lord, our God, ⁷ the frogs will leave your house and those of your servants and of your people, remaining only in the Nile.”

⁸ Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, and Moses beseeched the Lord concerning the frogs that he had sent against Pharaoh. ⁹ The Lord did as Moses had said and the frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards, and in the fields. ¹⁰ They piled them up in heaps and the land stank. ¹¹ But Pharaoh saw that there was a moment of relief, and he became stubborn and did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

¹² Third Plague: The Gnats.^[f] Then the Lord said to Moses, “Command Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth. It will change into gnats^[g] in all the land of Egypt.’ ” ¹³ This is what he did. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth changed into gnats throughout Egypt. ¹⁴ The magicians did the same thing with their magic to produce gnats, but they were not able to do it. The gnats were on man and beast. ¹⁵ The magicians said to Pharaoh, “It is the finger of God.” But the heart of Pharaoh was so hardened that he did not listen, just as the Lord had predicted.

¹⁶ Fourth Plague: The Flies.^[h] The Lord said to Moses, “Get up early tomorrow and present yourself to Pharaoh when he goes down to the water. You are to tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go so that they can serve me! ¹⁷ If you do not let my people go, then I will send flies^[i] upon you, upon your ministers, upon your people, and upon your houses. The houses of Egypt will be filled with flies, and even the ground on which they stand will be filled with them. ¹⁸ But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen where my people live. There will be no flies there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in the land. ¹⁹ Thus I will establish a difference between my people and your people. This sign will happen tomorrow.” ’ ”

²⁰ This is what the Lord did. A huge swarm of flies flew into the house of Pharaoh, the houses of his ministers, and all over the land of Egypt. The area was devastated because of the flies.

²¹ Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go and sacrifice to your God in the land.”

²² But Moses answered, “It would not work, for the sacrifice that we are going to make to the Lord, our God, is an abomination to the Egyptians. Could we perform a sacrifice that is an abomination to the Egyptians in their sight? Would they not stone us?^{[j] 23} We will go into the desert, a three days’ journey, and that is where we will sacrifice to the Lord, our God, just as he has ordered us.”

²⁴ So Pharaoh answered, “I will let you go and you can sacrifice to the Lord in the desert. Only do not go too far and pray for me.”

²⁵ Moses answered, “I will leave you and pray to the Lord. Tomorrow the flies will depart from Pharaoh, from his ministers, and from the people. Pharaoh, however, must not deceive us by not letting the people go to perform their sacrifice to the Lord.”

²⁶ Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. ²⁷ The Lord did as Moses said, and the flies departed from Pharaoh, from his ministers, and from his people. There was not even one left. ²⁸ But Pharaoh became stubborn and once again would not let the people go.

Chapter 9

Fifth Plague: The Pestilence on Livestock. ¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: “Let my people go so that they can serve me. ² If you refuse to permit them to leave and you continue to hinder them, ³ the hand of the Lord will come upon your animals in the fields: upon the horses, the donkeys, the camels, upon your herds and flocks, with a horrible plague. ⁴ But the Lord will distinguish between the animals of Israel and those of the Egyptians, so that none of those that belong to the children of Israel will die.” ’ ”

⁵ The Lord established the date saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will accomplish this thing in the land.”^{[k] 6} The next day, the Lord accomplished this thing. All the animals in Egypt died, but the animals of the children of Israel did not die, not even one of them. ⁷ Pharaoh sent men to find out, and not one of the animals of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh remained hardened, and he would not let the people go.

Sixth Plague: The Boils.^{[l] 8} The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: “Take two handfuls of ashes from the furnace. Moses is to throw them into the air in front of Pharaoh. ⁹ It will become a fine powder that will spread throughout the whole land and will produce running sores upon the people and the animals throughout the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ They therefore took ashes from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses threw them into the air, and they produced running sores on people and animals. ¹¹ The magicians could not stand in the presence of Moses because of the sores that had struck them as well as all the Egyptians. ¹² But the Lord caused Pharaoh’s heart to be hardened. He did not listen to them, as the Lord had predicted to Moses.

¹³ Seventh Plague: The Hail.^[m] The Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh and proclaim, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go so that they can serve me! ¹⁴ This time I will send all of my plagues against you, against your ministers, and against all your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me upon the whole earth. ¹⁵ By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with plagues that would have wiped you off the face of the earth. ¹⁶ Instead, I let you live to show you my power and so that my name might be proclaimed all throughout the earth. ¹⁷ Will you still oppose my people and not let them leave? ¹⁸ Behold, I will send a terribly violent hail tomorrow at this time as has never been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until today. ¹⁹ Send word to gather your animals and whatever is in the field into a safe shelter. Hail will fall upon all the people and upon all the animals that are in open countryside and that have not been brought into shelter, and they will die.” ’ ”

²⁰ Some of the ministers of Pharaoh feared the Lord and brought their slaves and their animals into shelter.^{[n] 21} Others did not take the words of the Lord to heart, and they left their slaves and their animals in the open countryside.

²² The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch your hand out toward the heavens. Let there be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon people, upon animals, and upon the plants of the field throughout the land of Egypt.” ²³ Moses stretched his staff toward the heavens, and the Lord sent thunder and hail. Lightning struck the earth, and the Lord made hail rain down upon the land of Egypt. ²⁴ There was hail and lightning in the midst of the hail. The hail was so violent that nothing like it had ever been seen in the entire land of Egypt from the day it had become a nation. ²⁵ The hail struck every person and animal that was in the open countryside throughout the land of Egypt. The hail also struck the plants in the field and splintered every tree in the open countryside. ²⁶ Only the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel lived, had no hail.

²⁷ Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned. The Lord is right. I and my people are guilty. ²⁸ Pray to the Lord to stop the thunder and hail. I will let you leave. You need not stay any longer.” ²⁹ Moses answered him, “When I leave the city, I will stretch out my hands toward the Lord. The thunder will cease, and the hail will end, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord. ³⁰ But as for you and your ministers, I know that you still do not fear the Lord God.”

³¹ The linen and barley was ruined, because the barley was in the ear and the flax was flowering. ³² But the wheat and the rye and the spelt were not harmed for they have a later season.

³³ Moses left Pharaoh and the city. He extended his hand toward the Lord. The thunder and the hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down upon the land. ³⁴ Pharaoh saw that the rain had stopped, as had the hail and the thunder, but he continued to sin and be stubborn, together with his ministers. ³⁵ The heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the children of Israel leave, as the Lord had predicted through Moses.

Chapter 10

Eighth Plague: The Locusts.^{[o] 1} Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his ministers so that I may perform these signs in their midst ² and so that you can tell your sons and grandsons how I dealt with the Egyptians and the signs I worked in their midst so that they may know that I am the Lord.”

³ Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says, ‘How long will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go so that they may serve me. ⁴ If you refuse to let my people go, behold, I will send locusts upon your land. ⁵ They will cover the entire country so that you cannot even see the soil. They will devour what is left, whatever survived the hail, and they will devour every tree that grows in your fields. ⁶ They will fill your house, the houses of all your ministers and the houses of all the Egyptians, so many that even your fathers never saw so many, nor the fathers of your fathers, from when they came into this land until today.’ ” He turned and left Pharaoh.

⁷ The ministers of Pharaoh said to him, “How long will he be a snare to us? Let this people go to serve the Lord, their God. Otherwise Egypt may be ruined.”

⁸ Moses and Aaron were summoned to Pharaoh who said to them, “Go, serve the Lord, your God. But who will leave with you?” ⁹ Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our animals and our flocks, so that we can celebrate a feast of the Lord.”

^10 [p]Pharaoh answered, “The Lord be with you, if I let you and your children leave. Clearly you have an evil project in mind. ¹¹ No! Have only the men go with you and serve the Lord. That is what you want.” They then went out from Pharaoh.

¹² The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt to send locusts. Let them come down upon the land of Egypt to eat every plant that the hail spared.” ¹³ Moses extended his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord sent an east wind over the land all that day and all that night. By the morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. ¹⁴ The locusts swarmed over the whole land of Egypt and settled on every part of the territory of Egypt. It was very serious, so bad that it had never been as bad before nor would it ever be as bad again in the future. ¹⁵ They covered the whole land so that the land was darkened. They devoured every plant in the land and every fruit tree that the hail had spared. Not a green leaf remained upon the trees or the plants in the field throughout the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord, your God, and against you. ¹⁷ But now once again forgive my sin and pray to the Lord, your God, so that he may turn aside this death from me.”

¹⁸ Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. ¹⁹ The Lord changed the direction of the wind and made a strong wind blow from the sea. It carried the locusts away and blew them into the Red Sea. There was not one locust left in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰ But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not let the children of Israel leave.

²¹ Ninth Plague: The Darkness.^[q] The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the heavens. Darkness will come upon the land of Egypt, so dark that one can feel it.”

²² Moses stretched out his hand toward the heavens. Darkness came upon the land of Egypt for three days. ²³ People could not see each other, and for three days no one could move around. But there was light where the children of Israel were living.^[r]

²⁴ Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Leave, and serve the Lord. Take your babies with you. Only leave your flocks and herds here.”

²⁵ Moses answered, “You must also grant us sacrifices and burnt offerings that we will offer to the Lord, our God. ²⁶ Our animals, too, must leave with us; not even a hoof will be left behind. We must choose the sacrificial victims that we will offer to the Lord, our God, from among them, and we will not know how to serve the Lord until we will have arrived in that place.” ²⁷ But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh who would not let them go. ²⁸ Pharaoh therefore said to Moses, “Leave me! Make sure that you never see me again, for the next time you see my face, you will die.” ²⁹ Moses said, “You have spoken well, for I will not see your face again.”

Chapter 11

Announcement of the Death of the Firstborn.^{[s] 1} The Lord said to Moses, “I will send still another plague against Pharaoh and Egypt. Afterward, he will let you go from here. He will let you leave without restrictions. In fact, he will chase you out.

² “Therefore, tell the people that each man should ask from his neighbor and each woman should ask from her neighbor objects of silver and objects of gold.”

³ The Lord caused the people to find favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moses, too, was a man who was highly regarded in the land of Egypt, both by the ministers of Pharaoh and by the people.

⁴ Moses then said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Around midnight I will go forth through Egypt. ⁵ Every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits upon the throne all the way to the firstborn of the slaves who work at the mill,^[t] even the firstborn of the animals. ⁶ A great lament will rise up in all the land of Egypt such as will never be repeated again. ⁷ But not even a dog will growl against the children of Israel, neither against humans nor animals, so that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. ⁸ All these servants of yours will come down to me and bow down in front of me saying, “May you and all the people who follow you leave.” After that I will leave.’ ”

Moses grew angry and left Pharaoh.

⁹ But the Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you. Therefore, I will multiply my signs in the land of Egypt.”

¹⁰ Moses and Aaron did all these signs before Pharaoh, but the Lord had so hardened the heart of Pharaoh that he would not let the children of Israel leave his land.

The Passover

Chapter 12

Preparations for the Passover.^{[u] 1} The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ² “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it shall be your first month of the year.^{[v] 3} Speak to the whole community of Israel and say, ‘The tenth of this month each person shall obtain a lamb for each family, one for each household. ⁴ If the family is too small to eat the lamb, they should join with their neighbors, based on the number of people. Figure the lamb according to how much each person can eat. ⁵ Your lamb should be without blemish,^[w] male, a year old. You can choose either a sheep or a goat. ⁶ Keep it until the fourteenth day of this month. Then the whole community of Israel shall slaughter it in the evening. ⁷ Take a bit of its blood, put it on the two doorposts and upon the lintel of every house in which it is to be eaten. ⁸ That night eat its meat roasted. Eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹ Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but only roasted with the head, legs, and inner organs. ¹⁰ Do not let any of it be kept until the morning. Whatever is left over in the morning shall be burned in the fire. ¹¹ This is how you shall eat it, with your loins girt and sandals on your feet and a staff in your hand. Eat it quickly. It is the Passover^[x] of the Lord.

¹² “ ‘On that night I will pass over the land of Egypt and strike the firstborn of the land of Egypt, both human and animal, to render justice against all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³ The blood on your houses shall be the sign that you are inside. I will see the blood and pass over. There shall be no plague for you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ Preparations for the Unleavened Bread.^[y]“ ‘This day shall be a memorial for you. You shall celebrate it as a feast of the Lord. From generation to generation, let there be an ordinance that you celebrate this feast. ¹⁵ For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall dispose of all leaven from your house. Whoever eats leavened goods from the first day til the seventh shall be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day you shall hold a sacred assembly and another on the seventh day. On those days you shall not work. You shall only prepare what is to be eaten by everyone.

¹⁷ “ ‘You shall observe the custom of unleavened bread, for on this same day I brought out your hosts from the land of Egypt. You shall observe this day from generation to generation as an eternal ordinance. ¹⁸ In the first month, the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first of the month, in the evening. ¹⁹ For seven days leavened bread shall not be found in your house, for whoever eats leavened bread shall be cut off from the community of Israel, whether it be a foreigner or a native of the land. ²⁰ You shall not eat leavened bread; in all your houses you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”

²¹ Celebration of the Passover. Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Go and obtain a lamb for each family and slaughter it for the Passover.^{[z] 22} Take a bunch of hyssop^[aa] and dip it into the blood in the bowl and sprinkle the blood from the bowl on the lintel and the two doorposts. None of you shall go outside until the morning. ²³ The Lord will pass over to strike the Egyptians. He will see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts. The Lord will, therefore, pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter into your house to strike anyone there.^[ab]

²⁴ “You shall observe this command as a fixed rite for yourselves and your children forever. ²⁵ When you will have entered into the land that the Lord will give you, as he promised, you shall observe this rite. ²⁶ When your children ask you, ‘What does this rite of yours mean,’ ²⁷ you shall tell them, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Passover of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and spared our houses.’ ”

The people knelt down and worshiped. ²⁸ Then the children of Israel went and did exactly what the Lord had ordered Moses and Aaron.

The Exodus from Egypt and the Journey to Sinai

Departure from Egypt

²⁹ Tenth Plague: The Death of the Firstborn.^[ac] At midnight the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat upon the throne to the firstborn of the prisoners being held in dungeons, all the firstborn, both human and animal. ³⁰ Pharaoh got up during the night along with his ministers and all the Egyptians, and a loud cry arose out of Egypt, for every house had someone who had died.

³¹ Permission to Depart.^[ad]Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Arise and leave my people, you and the children of Israel! Go and serve the Lord as you have said. ³² Take your herds and your flocks, as you have said, and leave. Bless me, too.”

³³ The Egyptians urged on the people to drive them out of the land quickly, for they said, “We are all about to die.” ³⁴ The people took their unleavened dough with them, placing their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks on their shoulders. ³⁵ The children of Israel carried out Moses’ order and had the Egyptians give them objects of silver and gold and clothes. ³⁶ The Lord had inclined the Egyptians favorably toward the people so that they gave them whatever they requested. So, they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ Departure from Egypt. The children of Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth. There were six hundred thousand men on foot, not counting children. ³⁸ There was also a large crowd of people of mixed ancestry with them, together with large numbers of flocks and herds. ³⁹ They baked the dough that they had carried with them from Egypt as cakes of unleavened bread for it had not been leavened. They had been hurried out of Egypt and had not had time to hesitate nor to prepare provisions for the journey.

⁴⁰ The children of Israel had lived in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years. ⁴¹ At the end of four hundred and thirty years, exactly to the day, all the hosts of the Lord went up out of Egypt. ⁴² This was a night of vigil unto the Lord, for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. Hence, it must be a night of vigil in honor of the Lord for all the children of Israel, from one generation to the next.

⁴³ Ordinances for the Passover.^[ae] The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the ordinances for the Passover:

“No foreigner may eat it. ⁴⁴ As for each slave bought with money, you shall circumcise him so that he may eat it. ⁴⁵ The foreigner and the hired laborer cannot eat it.

⁴⁶ “It must be eaten in one house. One may not carry the meat outside of the house, and none of its bones is to be broken.^{[af] 47} All the community of Israel shall celebrate it.

⁴⁸ “If a foreigner dwells among you and wishes to celebrate the Passover of the Lord, let each man in his household be circumcised. Then let him draw near to celebrate and he will be like a native of the land. But no one who is uncircumcised can eat it. ⁴⁹ The same law will be binding on the native and the foreigner who is living in your midst.”

⁵⁰ All the children of Israel did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ On that very day the Lord brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, organized according to their hosts.