¹Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: «Let my people go so that they can serve me. ²And if you refuse to let them go, look, I will strike all your territory with frogs. ³And the river will teem with frogs, and they will come up and come into your house and into your bedroom and into your bed and into the house of your servants and to your people and into your ovens and into your kneading-basins. ⁴And the frogs will come up to you and to your people and to all your servants.» ’ ” ⁵Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your rod over the rivers, over the channels and over the pools and bring up frogs over the land of Egypt.’ ” ⁶So Aaron stretched out his hand over the water of Egypt and the frogs came up and they covered the land of Egypt. ⁷And the magicians did likewise with their secret arts, and they brought up frogs over the land of Egypt. ⁸Then Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, “Entreat the Lord to remove the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go, and they can sacrifice to the Lord.” ⁹Moses then said to Pharaoh, “Specify to me when I should entreat for you and for your servants and for your people, to eliminate the frogs from you and from your houses. Only in the river will they remain.” ¹⁰And he said, “Tomorrow.” And he said, “It will be according to your word so that you will know that there is no-one like the Lord our God. ¹¹And the frogs will depart from you and from your houses and from your servants and from your people. Only in the river will they remain.” ¹²Then Moses and Aaron departed from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to the Lord about the matter of the frogs which he had imposed on Pharaoh. ¹³And the Lord acted according to Moses' words, and the frogs died off in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields. ¹⁴And they piled them up in heaps and heaps, and the land stank. ¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not hearken to them, as the Lord had said. ¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your rod and strike the dust of the ground, and it will become lice over all the land of Egypt.’ ” ¹⁷So they did so, and Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the ground, and it became lice, on man and on the cattle. All the dust of the earth became lice over all the land of Egypt. ¹⁸Then the magicians acted likewise with their secret arts, to produce lice, but they could not. And the lice were on man and on the cattle. ¹⁹Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “It is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh's heart hardened, and he did not hearken to them, as the Lord had said. ²⁰And the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh – you will see that he is going out to the water – and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: «Let my people go so they can serve me. ²¹For if you don't let my people go, I am ready to send the gadfly on you and on your servants and on your people and in your houses, and the houses of Egypt will be full with the gadfly, and also the ground they are on. ²²But on that day I will set the land of Goshen apart, on which my people stand, so that there will be no gadfly there, so that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. ²³And I will put a sign of redemption between my people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow.» ’ ” ²⁴And the Lord did so, and a heavy swarm of gadflies came on Pharaoh's house and on his servants' house and all over the land of Egypt. The land was ravaged because of the gadfly. ²⁵Then Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, “Go. Sacrifice to your God in the land.” ²⁶But Moses said, “It is not right to do it like that, for we will sacrifice what is an abomination to the Egyptians to the Lord our God. If we sacrifice what is an abomination to the Egyptians in their sight, will they not stone us? ²⁷We will go three days' journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God according to what he says to us.” ²⁸Then Pharaoh said, “I will let you go so you can sacrifice to the Lord your God in the desert, but do not go all that far away. And entreat on my behalf.” ²⁹Then Moses said, “Behold, I am about to depart from you, and I will entreat the Lord and the gadfly will depart from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people tomorrow, but don't let Pharaoh be deceptive any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” ³⁰Then Moses departed from Pharaoh, and he entreated the Lord. ³¹And the Lord acted according to Moses' word, and the gadfly departed from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people. Not one remained. ³²But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time too, and he did not let the people go.