116-117 : The Plague Of Locusts
THE PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS
God said to Moses:"I have allowed all these things to take place so that you may tell your son, and your son's son, what things I have done in Egypt, and the signs that I have given so that you may know that I am the Lord."
Moses and Aaron came again before Pharaoh, and said to him:
"This is what the Lord God of the Hebrews says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? If you will not let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country.
They shall cover the face of the earth so that it cannot be seen.
They shall eat everything that has been left after the hail and every tree growing in the fields.
They shall fill your house and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians. Your fathers and your fathers' fathers have seen nothing like it in all their lives."'
And they turned around and went out from Pharaoh.
And Pharaoh's servants said to him: "How long shall this man bring suffering to us?
Let the men go and worship their God.
Do you not see that Egypt is destroyed?"
Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh,
and he said to them: "Go and worship the Lord your God. But who shall go with you?"
Moses answered: "We will go with our young and our old people, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and our herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord."
"Let the Lord be with you," said Pharaoh, "if I ever let you and your
little ones go. But this shall not be, for you have an evil plan.
Let only the men go and worship the Lord." And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.
Then Moses did as the Lord had commanded, and stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt.
And the Lord caused an east wind to blow over the land all that day and all that night.
And when it was morning the east wind brought the locusts.
The locusts went over all the land of Egypt.
Never before or afterwards had anyone seen so many locusts.
The whole land was darkened with them,
and they ate every Plant and all the fruit from the trees that the hail had left.
Not one green thing remained throughout all the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh called quickly for Moses and Aaron and said: "I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Forgive me, I beg of you, this once, and pray to the Lord your God that this plague may be taken from me."
Moses left Pharaoh and entreated the Lord.
The Lord then sent a very strong west wind, which took away the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea.
Not one locust was left in the whole land of Egypt.
But still Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he would not let the children of Israel go.
THE PLAGUE OF DARKNESS
So God said to Moses: "Stretch out your hand towards the heavens, so that there may be darkness
over the land of Egypt, a darkness so thick that it may be felt."
Moses stretched forth his hand towards the heavens, and there was a thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days.
The Egyptians could not see one another, and no one moved from his place for three days.
But all the children of Israel had light where they lived.
Pharaoh called Moses and said: "Go, worship the Lord. Only leave your flocks and herds behind. Your children may go with you."
"You must allow us sacrifices that we may offer to the Lord our God,"Moses answered. "Our cattle must go with us.
Not one animal shall be left behind,
for we do not know how we must worship the Lord until we reach the place appointed."
But again Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not let them go.
And the Lord said to Moses:"Yet one plague more will I bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt.
Afterwards he will let you go. Indeed, he will drive you out altogether."
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