112 : The Plague Of Flies
But Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
So God spoke to Moses, saying:'Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh as he comes
down to the river, and say to him, 'These are the words of the Lord: "If you will not let my people go, so that they may worship me, I will send swarms of flies upon you, upon your servants and upon your people, and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians and all their land shall be full of swarms of flies. But on that day I will separate from this land the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there. From tomorrow I will put a division between my people and your people, so that you may know that I am the Lord over all the earth." "'
And the Lord did so.
There came a great swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, into his servants' houses and
into all the land of Egypt.
The land was ruined by the swarm of flies; they descended upon everything.
Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them:"Go, sacrifice to your God here in Egypt."
But Moses said: ''We cannot worship our God before the eyes of the Egyptians because our sacrifices would seem vile to them.
Our worship is an abomination to the Egyptians and if we made sacrifices to the Lord, would they not stone us?
We will go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to our God according to his command."
And Pharaoh said: "I will let you go and sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness.
Only you shall not go very far away.
Speak to your God for me."
"When I leave you," Moses answered, "I will pray to the Lord that the swarms of flies may leave Pharaoh, his servants and his people tomorrow.
But Pharaoh must not deal dishonestly any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord."
Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, and the Lord did as Moses asked.
He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people.
There remained not one.
But again Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.
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