Exodus 8
1THUS saith the Lord, Send away My people that they may serve Me.
2But if thou wilt not let them go, behold I will smite all thy borders with frogs and the river shall swarm with frogs.
3And they shall go up and come into thy houses and into thy bedchambers, even upon thy beds; and into the houses of thy servants and thy people and into thy kneading troughs and thy ovens.
4Both against thee and against thy attendants and thy people shall the frogs come up.
5And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron thy brother, Stretch forth the staff with thy hand over the rivers and over the canals and over the lakes and bring up the frogs.
6So Aaron stretched forth his hand over the waters of Egypt and brought up the frogs. And frogs came up in abundance and covered the land of Egypt.
7Though the Egyptian sorcerers did in like manner by their enchantments and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt,
8yet Pharao called Moses and Aaron and said, Pray for me to the Lord, and let Him take away the frogs from me and my people; and I will let them go that they may sacrifice to the Lord.
9Whereupon Moses said to Pharao, Set me the time when I shall pray for thee and for thy attendants and thy people, that the frogs may vanish from thee and from thy people and out of your houses and be left only in the river.
10And he said against tomorrow. And Moses said, It shall be as thou hast spoken. That thou mayst know that there is no other besides the Lord;
11the frogs shall be removed from thee and from your houses and from your villages and from all thy attendants and from thy people; but in the river they shall be left.
12Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharao; and Moses cried to the Lord for the performance of the promise touching the frogs as Pharao had stated.
13And the Lord did as Moses said. The frogs died out of the houses and out of the villages and out of the fields.
14And they collected them in heaps and the land stank.
15But when Pharao saw that there was a respite, his heart became stubborn and he hearkened not to them as the Lord had said.
16Then the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thy staff with thy hand and smite the dust of the ground, and there shall be stinging gnats among the men and the four-footed beasts throughout all the land of Egypt.
17Accordingly, Aaron stretched forth the staff with his hand and smote the dust of the ground, and there were stinging gnats among the men and among the four-footed beasts, and in all the dust of the ground there were gnats.
18As the magicians did in like manner by their enchantments to remove the stinging gnats but could not, so the stinging gnats were among the men and among the four-footed beasts.
19Therefore the sorcerers said to Pharao, This is the finger of God. But Pharao’s heart was inflexible and he hearkened not to them as the Lord had said.
20Then the Lord said to Moses, Rise early to-morrow and stand before Pharao. Lo! he will come forth to the water, and thou shalt say to him, Thus saith the Lord, Send away My people that they may serve Me in the wilderness.
21But if thou wilt not send away My people behold I will send against thee and against thy attendants and against thy people and against your houses, the dog-fly. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with dog-flies throughout all the land in which they are.
22But in that day I will distinguish in a glorious manner the land of Gesem in which My people are. In it there shall be no dog-flies, that thou mayst know that I am the Lord the God of the whole earth.
23And I will make a difference between My people and thy people. Tomorrow this shall be in the land.
24And the Lord did so. And there came a swarm of dog-flies into the houses of Pharao and into the houses of his attendants and into all the land of Egypt: and the land was utterly wasted by them.
25Whereupon Pharao sent for Moses and Aaron and said, Go and sacrifice to the Lord your God in this land.
26And Moses said, It is not possible to do so. For we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God the abominations of the Egyptians. Now if we should sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians before their faces we shall be stoned.
27We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to our God, as the Lord hath commanded us.
28Then Pharao said, I give you leave to go, that you may sacrifice to your God in the wilderness; but you must not extend your journey to a great distance. Therefore pray to the Lord for me.
29And Moses said I will go out from thee and pray to God; and the dog-flies shall depart from thy servants and from thy people to-morrow. But let not Pharao deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.
30So Moses went out from Pharao and prayed to God.
31And the Lord did as Moses said and removed the dog-flies from Pharao and his attendants and his people and there was not one left.
32But Pharao emboldened his heart at this time also and would not let the people go.