The Lord Announces the Tenth Plague

¹The Lord had spoken to Moses. He had said, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you and your people go. When he does, he will drive every one of you away. ² Tell the men and women alike to ask their neighbors for things made out of silver and gold.” ³ The Lord caused the Egyptians to treat the Israelites in a kind way. Pharaoh’s officials and the people had great respect for Moses.

⁴ Moses told Pharaoh, “The Lord says, ‘About midnight I will go through every part of Egypt. ⁵ Every oldest son in Egypt will die. The oldest son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, will die. The oldest son of every female slave, who works at her hand mill, will die. All the male animals born first to their mothers among the cattle will also die. ⁶ There will be loud crying all over Egypt. It will be worse than it’s ever been before. And nothing like it will ever be heard again. ⁷ But among the Israelites not even one dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord treats Egypt differently from us. ⁸ All your officials will come and bow down to me. They will say, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that, I will leave.” Moses was very angry when he left Pharaoh.

⁹ The Lord had spoken to Moses. He had said, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you. So I will multiply the amazing things I will do in Egypt.” ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron performed all these amazing things in the sight of Pharaoh. But the Lord made Pharaoh stubborn. He wouldn’t let the people of Israel go out of his country.