The eighth plague: the locusts
1 ① Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh for I have made him stubborn and his ministers as well, in order to show my signs among them, 2and that you may tell your grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and about the signs I worked among them, and that you may know that I am Yahweh.”
3Moses went with Aaron and said to Pharaoh, “This is the word of Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews: ‘How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go and worship me. 4If you refuse to let my people go, I will bring locusts into your country 5and they will completely cover the surface of the land. They will devour what was left after the hail as well as every tree in the fields. 6They will fill your house and the houses of your ministers and all the houses in Egypt, something your fathers and their fathers before them have never seen from ancient times to this day.’” Having said this, Moses turned away and left Pharaoh’s presence.
7Pharaoh’s ministers said to him, “For how long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go and worship Yahweh, their God. Don’t you realize that Egypt is ruined?”
8So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said, “Go! Worship Yahweh, your God. But exactly who are to go?” 9Moses said, “We shall go with our young and our old, with our sons and daughters, with our sheep and our cattle, for it is the great feast of Yahweh that we are to celebrate.” 10Pharaoh said, “May Yahweh help you if ever I let you go with your little ones! Oh no! It’s clear you are bent on evil. 11No! Only the men will offer sacrifice to Yahweh, if that is what you want!” And they were driven away from Pharaoh’s presence.
12Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and bring locusts to the land of Egypt. Let them eat every plant in the land, everything that was left after the hail.” 13So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt. All that day and night Yahweh brought an east wind over the land and in the morning the east wind brought the locusts. 14They came and settled on the land in such quantities as had never been seen before and will never be seen again. 15They covered the sky of Egypt and the earth was in darkness. They devoured all the vegetation in the land and all the fruit of the trees left after the hail. Nothing green remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, in all the land of Egypt.
16Because of all this Pharaoh hastened to summon Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned against Yahweh, your God, and against you. 17For give my sin, I pray you, at least for once and ask Yahweh, your God, for a final favor: to rid me of this deadly plague.”
18Moses left Pharaoh and interceded with Yahweh 19who brought a very strong wind from the west that carried off the locusts and swept them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left within the boundaries of Egypt.
20But Yahweh let Pharaoh be stubborn and he would not allow the Israelites to leave.
The ninth plague: the darkness
21Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch your hand towards heaven and let darkness descend on the land of Egypt, a darkness so dense that it can be felt.” 22Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven and instantly black darkness covered the land of Egypt for three days. 23They could not see each other and they could not move about for three days, but where the sons of Israel lived, there was light. 24Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go and worship Yahweh, you and your children with you; leave only your flocks and herds behind!” 25Moses said, “Are you going to give us animals for our sacrifices and burnt offerings? 26No! Our cattle to the last hoof must also go with us, for it is from our livestock that we will choose the victims we will offer to Yahweh. Moreover we shall not know which ones we must sacrifice until we arrive at that place.”
27But Yahweh let Pharaoh be stubborn and Pharaoh would not let them go.
28Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Take care! Never come before me again, for the day you do, you will die!” 29Moses said, “It is as you say, I shall never come before you again.”
- Ex 10,1 I have made him stubborn. In fact the text says: I hardened him, or I let his heart harden. But the heart for the Hebrews is the place where decisions are made (as the head is for us); that does not mean to say that God poisoned the heart of Pharaoh. Pharaoh stubbornly persists: that is what God wanted, and it becomes part of his plan to take advantage of the obstacles opposing it. The author surely did not want to confront the problem of human freedom with the all-powerful God.
