This edition follows the Hebrew versification; the traditional number is given in brackets.
1[8:5]Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams, the canals, and the ponds, and make frogs come up over the land of Egypt.’” 2[8:6]So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 3[8:7]But the magicians did the same with their secret arts, and brought frogs up over the land of Egypt as well. 4[8:8]Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Plead with Yahweh to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to Yahweh.” 5[8:9]Moses said to Pharaoh, “You may have the honor of choosing: for what time shall I plead on behalf of you, your servants, and your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses, and remain only in the river?” 6[8:10]“Tomorrow,” he said. “It will be as you say,” Moses replied, “so that you may know there is no one like Yahweh our God. 7[8:11]The frogs will leave you, your houses, your servants, and your people; they will remain only in the river.” 8[8:12]So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to Yahweh about the frogs he had brought against Pharaoh. 9[8:13]Yahweh did as Moses asked, and the frogs died out of the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. 10[8:14]They piled them up in heaps, and the land stank. 11[8:15]But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, just as Yahweh had said. 12[8:16]Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground’ — it will become gnats throughout the land of Egypt.” 13[8:17]They did so — Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the ground, and gnats came on people and animals; all the dust of the ground became gnats throughout the land of Egypt. 14[8:18]The magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, but they could not, and the gnats remained on people and animals. 15[8:19]The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, and he did not listen to them, just as Yahweh had said.
The Third and Fourth Plagues: Gnats and Flies
16[8:20]Yahweh said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, and say to him: This is what Yahweh says: Let my people go, that they may serve me. 17[8:21]For if you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you, your servants, your people, and your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies, and even the ground they stand on. 18[8:22]But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people live, so that no flies will be there — so that you may know that I am Yahweh in the midst of the land. 19[8:23]I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will happen tomorrow.” 20[8:24]And Yahweh did so. Thick swarms of flies poured into the house of Pharaoh and his servants’ houses, and throughout Egypt the land was ruined because of the flies. 21[8:25]Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God — within this land.” 22[8:26]But Moses said, “That would not be right, for what we sacrifice to Yahweh our God is detestable to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice before their eyes what they detest, will they not stone us? 23[8:27]We must go a three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to Yahweh our God, as he commands us.” 24[8:28]Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the wilderness — only do not go very far. Now plead for me.” 25[8:29]Moses said, “As soon as I leave you, I will plead with Yahweh, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. Only do not deal falsely again by refusing to let the people go and sacrifice to Yahweh.” 26[8:30]So Moses left Pharaoh and pleaded with Yahweh, 27[8:31]and Yahweh did as Moses asked: the flies left Pharaoh, his servants, and his people; not one remained. 28[8:32]But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go.
