Exodus 8 - Easy To Read Version

¹ Then the Lord told Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him that the Lord says, ‘Let my people go to worship me!

² If you refuse to let my people go, then I will fill Egypt with frogs.

³ The Nile River will be filled with frogs. They will come from the river and enter your houses. They will be in your bedrooms, and in your beds. The frogs will be in the houses of your officials and in your ovens and in your jars of water.

⁴ The frogs will be all over you, your people, and your officials.’”

⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to hold the walking stick in his hand over the canals, rivers, and lakes. Then the frogs will come out onto the land of Egypt.”

⁶ So Aaron raised his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs began coming out of the water and covered the land of Egypt.

⁷ The magicians used their tricks to do the same thing—so even more frogs came out onto the land in Egypt!

⁸ Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh said, “Ask the Lord to remove the frogs from me and my people. I will let the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

⁹ Moses said to Pharaoh, “Tell me when you want the frogs to go away. I will pray for you, your people, and your officials. Then the frogs will leave you and your houses. The frogs will remain only in the river. {When do you want the frogs to leave?}”

¹⁰ Pharaoh said, “Tomorrow.”

¹¹ The frogs will leave you, your house, your officials, and your people. The frogs will remain only in the river.”

¹² Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh. Moses prayed to the Lord about the frogs he had sent against Pharaoh.

¹³ And the Lord did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the yards, and in the fields.

¹⁴ They began to rot, and the whole country began to stink.

¹⁵ Pharaoh saw that they were free of the frogs, and he again became stubborn. Pharaoh did not do what Moses and Aaron had asked him to do. This happened just like the Lord had said.

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to raise his stick and hit the dust on the ground, and everywhere in Egypt dust will become lice.”

¹⁷ They did this. Aaron raised the stick in his hand and hit the dust on the ground, and everywhere in Egypt the dust became lice. The lice got on the animals and the people.

¹⁸ The magicians used their tricks and tried to do the same thing. But the magicians could not make lice come from the dust. The lice remained on the animals and the people.

¹⁹ So the magicians told Pharaoh that the power of God did this. But Pharaoh refused to listen to them. This happened just like the Lord had said.

²⁰ The Lord said to Moses, “Get up in the morning and go to Pharaoh. Pharaoh will go out to the river. Tell him that the Lord says, ‘Let my people go and worship me!

²¹ If you don’t let my people go, then flies will come into your houses. The flies will be on you and your officials. The houses of Egypt will be full of flies. The flies will be all over the ground too!

²² But I will not treat the people of Israel the same as the Egyptian people. There will not be any flies in Goshen, where my people live. In this way you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land.

²³ So tomorrow I will treat my people differently from your people. That will be my proof.”

²⁴ So the Lord did just what he said. Many, many flies came into Egypt. The flies were in Pharaoh’s house, and they were in all his officials’ houses. The flies were all over Egypt. The flies were ruining the country.

²⁵ So Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh told them, “Offer sacrifices [54] to your God here in this country.”

²⁶ But Moses said, “It would not be right to do that. The Egyptians think that it is a terrible thing to {kill animals as} sacrifices [55] for the Lord our God. If we do this here, then the Egyptians will see us, and they will throw stones at us and kill us.

²⁷ Let us go three days into the desert and offer sacrifices [56] to the Lord our God. This is what the Lord told us to do.”

²⁸ So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go and offer sacrifices [57] to the Lord your God in the desert. But, you must not go very far! Now, go and pray for me.”

²⁹ Moses said, “Look, I will leave and ask the Lord to remove the flies from you, your people, and your officials tomorrow. But you must not stop the people from offering sacrifices [58] to the Lord.”

³⁰ So Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord.

³¹ And the Lord did what Moses asked. The Lord removed the flies from Pharaoh, his officials, and his people. None of the flies remained.

³² But Pharaoh again became stubborn and did not let the people go.