Parashah 15: Bo (Go) 10:1–13:16
1 Adonaisaid to Moshe, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have made him and his servants hardhearted, so that I can demonstrate these signs of mine among them,
2 so that you can tell your son and grandson about what I did to Egypt and about my signs that I demonstrated among them, and so that you will all know that I amAdonai.”
3 Moshe and Aharon went in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Here is whatAdonai, God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go, so that they can worship me.
4 Otherwise, if you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.
5 One won’t be able to see the ground, so completely will the locusts cover it. They will eat anything you still have that escaped the hail, including every tree you have growing in the field.
6 They will fill your houses and those of your servants and of all the Egyptians. It will be like nothing your fathers or their fathers have ever seen since the day they were born until today.’” Then he turned his back and left.
7 Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How much longer must this fellow be a snare for us? Let the people go and worshipAdonaitheir God. Don’t you understand yet that Egypt is being destroyed?”
8 So Moshe and Aharon were brought to Pharaoh again, and he said to them, “Go, worshipAdonaiyour God. But who exactly is going?”
9 Moshe answered, “We will go with our young and our old, our sons and our daughters; and we will go with our flocks and herds; for we must celebrate a feast toAdonai.”
10 Pharaoh said to them, “Adonaicertainly will be with you if I ever let you go with your children! It’s clear that you are up to no good.
11 Nothing doing! Just the men among you may go and worshipAdonai.That’s what you want, isn’t it?” And they were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence.
(ii)
12 Adonaisaid to Moshe, “Reach out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that locusts will invade the land and eat every plant that the hail has left.”
13 Moshe reached out with his staff over the land of Egypt, andAdonaicaused an east wind to blow on the land all day and all night; and in the morning the east wind brought the locusts.
14 The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled throughout Egypt’s territory. It was an invasion more severe than there had ever been before or will ever be again.
15 They completely covered the ground, so that the ground looked black. They ate every plant growing from the ground and all the fruit of the trees left by the hail. Not one green thing remained, not a tree and not a plant in the field, in all the land of Egypt.
16 Pharaoh hurried to summon Moshe and Aharon and said, “I have sinned againstAdonaiyour God and against you.
17 Now, therefore, please forgive my sin just this once; and intercede withAdonaiyour God, so that he will at least take away from me this deadly plague!”
18 He went out from Pharaoh and interceded withAdonai.
19 Adonaireversed the wind and made it blow very strongly from the west. It took up the locusts and drove them into the Sea of Suf; not one locust remained on Egyptian soil.
20 ButAdonaimade Pharaoh hardhearted, and he didn’t let the people of Isra’el go.
21 Adonaisaid to Moshe, “Reach out your hand toward the sky, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness so thick it can be felt!”
22 Moshe reached out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in the entire land of Egypt for three days.
23 People couldn’t see each other, and no one went anywhere for three days. But all the people of Isra’el had light in their homes.
(iii)
24 Pharaoh summoned Moshe and said, “Go, worshipAdonai; only leave your flocks and herds behind — your children may go with you.”
25 Moshe answered, “You must also see to it that we have sacrifices and burnt offerings, so that we can sacrifice toAdonaiour God.
26 Our livestock will also go with us — not a hoof will be left behind — because we must choose some of them to worshipAdonaiour God, and we don’t know which ones we will need to worshipAdonaiuntil we get there.”
27 ButAdonaimade Pharaoh hardhearted, and he would not let them go.
28 Pharaoh said to them, “Get away from me! And you had better not see my face again, because the day you see my face, you will die!”
29 Moshe answered, “Well spoken! I will see your face no more.”