Version A
Commission
Yhwh said to Moses, ‘See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring my people the Israelites, company by company, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgement. The Egyptians shall know that I am Yhwh, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.’ Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as Yhwh commanded them. Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Sign 1: Snake
Yhwh said to Moses and Aaron, ‘When Pharaoh says to you, “Perform a wonder”, then you shall say to Aaron, “Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.”’ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as Yhwh had commanded; Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same by their secret arts. Each one threw down his staff, and they became snakes; but Aaron’s staff swallowed up theirs.
Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as Yhwh had said.
Sign 2: Blood
Yhwh said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over its rivers, its canals, and its ponds, and all its pools of water—so that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout the whole land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.”’
Moses and Aaron did just as Yhwh commanded, and there was blood throughout the whole land of Egypt.
But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts.
So Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as Yhwh had said.
Sign 3: Frogs
And Yhwh said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, the canals, and the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.”’ So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
But the magicians did the same by their secret arts, and brought frogs up on the land of Egypt.
But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and would not listen to them, just as Yhwh had said.
Sign 4: Gnats
Then Yhwh said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats throughout the whole land of Egypt.”’ And they did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and gnats came on humans and animals alike; all the dust of the earth turned into gnats throughout the whole land of Egypt.
The magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, but they could not. There were gnats on both humans and animals. And the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God!’
But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as Yhwh had said.
Sign 5: Boils
Then Yhwh said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw it in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. It shall become fine dust all over the land of Egypt, and shall cause festering boils on humans and animals throughout the whole land of Egypt.’ So they took soot from the kiln, and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses threw it in the air, and it caused festering boils on humans and animals.
The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils afflicted the magicians as well as all the Egyptians.
But Yhwh hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he would not listen to them, just as Yhwh had spoken to Moses.
Version B
Sign 1: Blood
Then Yhwh said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water; stand by at the river bank to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake. Say to him, “Yhwh, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness.’ But until now you have not listened. Thus says Yhwh, ‘By this you shall know that I am Yhwh.’ See, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall be turned to blood. The fish in the river shall die, the river itself shall stink, and the Egyptians shall be unable to drink water from the Nile.”’
In the sight of Pharaoh and of his officials he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the river, and all the water in the river was turned into blood, and the fish in the river died. The river stank so that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. And all the Egyptians had to dig along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the river.
Seven days passed after Yhwh had struck the Nile.
Sign 2: Frogs
Then Yhwh said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “Thus says Yhwh: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. The river shall swarm with frogs; they shall come up into your palace, into your bedchamber and your bed, and into the houses of your officials and of your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your officials.”’
Then Pharaoh called Moses, and said, ‘Pray to Yhwh to take away the frogs from me and my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to Yhwh.’ Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘Kindly tell me when I am to pray for you and for your officials and for your people, that the frogs may be removed from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.’ And he said, ‘Tomorrow.’ Moses said, ‘As you say! So that you may know that there is no one like Yhwh our God, the frogs shall leave you and your houses and your officials and your people; they shall be left only in the Nile.’
Then Moses went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried out to Yhwh concerning the frogs that he had brought upon Pharaoh. And Yhwh did as Moses requested: the frogs died in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank.
Sign 3: Flies
Then Yhwh said to Moses, ‘Rise early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, “Thus says Yhwh: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. For if you will not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you, your officials, and your people, and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies; so also the land where they live. But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people live, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I Yhwh am in this land. Thus I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign shall appear tomorrow.”’ Yhwh did so, and great swarms of flies came into the house of Pharaoh and into his officials’ houses; in all of Egypt the land was ruined because of the flies.
Then Pharaoh summoned Moses, and said, ‘Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.’ But Moses said, ‘It would not be right to do so; for the sacrifices that we offer to Yhwh our God are offensive to the Egyptians. If we offer in the sight of the Egyptians sacrifices that are offensive to them, will they not stone us? We must go a three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to Yhwh our God as he commands us.’ So Pharaoh said, ‘I will let you go to sacrifice to Yhwh your God in the wilderness, provided you do not go very far away. Pray for me.’ Then Moses said, ‘As soon as I leave you, I will pray to Yhwh that the swarms of flies may depart tomorrow from Pharaoh, from his officials, and from his people; only do not let Pharaoh again deal falsely by not letting the people go to sacrifice to Yhwh.’
So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to Yhwh. And Yhwh did as Moses asked: he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his officials, and from his people; not one remained.
But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and would not let the people go.
Sign 4: Livestock
Then Yhwh said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh, and say to him, “Thus says Yhwh, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, the hand of Yhwh will strike with a deadly pestilence your livestock in the field: the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. But Yhwh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing shall die of all that belongs to the Israelites.”’ Yhwh set a time, saying, ‘Tomorrow Yhwh will do this thing in the land.’ And on the next day Yhwh did so; all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but of the livestock of the Israelites not one died.
Pharaoh inquired and found that not one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead.
But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the people go.
Sign 5: Hail
Then Yhwh said to Moses, ‘Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, and say to him, “Thus says Yhwh, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. For this time I will send all my plagues upon you yourself, and upon your officials, and upon your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But this is why I have let you live: to show you my power, and to make my name resound through all the earth. You are still exalting yourself against my people, and will not let them go. Tomorrow at this time I will cause the heaviest hail to fall that has ever fallen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. Send, therefore, and have your livestock and everything that you have in the open field brought to a secure place; every human or animal that is in the open field and is not brought under shelter will die when the hail comes down upon them.”’ Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of Yhwh hurried their slaves and livestock off to a secure place. Those who did not regard the word of Yhwh left their slaves and livestock in the open field. Yhwh said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand towards heaven so that hail may fall on the whole land of Egypt, on humans and animals and all the plants of the field in the land of Egypt.’ Then Moses stretched out his staff towards heaven, and Yhwh sent thunder and hail, and fire came down on the earth. And Yhwh rained hail on the land of Egypt; there was hail with fire flashing continually in the midst of it, such heavy hail as had never fallen in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck down everything that was in the open field throughout all the land of Egypt, both human and animal; the hail also struck down all the plants of the field, and shattered every tree in the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, there was no hail.
Then Pharaoh summoned Moses, and said, ‘This time I have sinned; Yhwh is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. Pray to Yhwh! Enough of God’s thunder and hail! I will let you go; you need stay no longer.’ Moses said to him, ‘As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to Yhwh; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is Yhwh’s. But as for you and your officials, I know that you do not yet fear Yhwh God.’ (Now the flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they are late in coming up.) So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and stretched out his hands to Yhwh; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the earth. But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned once more and hardened his heart, he and his officials.
So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the Israelites go.
Sign 6: Locusts
Then Yhwh said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his officials, in order that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I have made fools of the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them—so that you may know that I am Yhwh.’ So Moses went to Pharaoh, and said to him, ‘Thus says Yhwh, the God of the Hebrews, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. For if you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country. They shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They shall devour the last remnant left you after the hail, and they shall devour every tree of yours that grows in the field. They shall fill your houses, and the houses of all your officials and of all the Egyptians—something that neither your parents nor your grandparents have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.”’ Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh. Pharaoh’s officials said to him, ‘How long shall this fellow be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship Yhwh their God; do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?’
So Moses was brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to him, ‘Go, worship Yhwh your God! But which ones are to go?’ Moses said, ‘We will go with our young and our old; we will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, because we have Yhwh’s festival to celebrate.’ He said to him, ‘Yhwh indeed will be with you, if ever I let your little ones go with you! Plainly you have some evil purpose in mind. No, never! Your men may go and worship Yhwh, for that is what you are asking.’ And he was driven out from Pharaoh’s presence. Then Yhwh said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may come upon it and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.’ So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and Yhwh brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night; when morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts. The locusts came upon all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever shall be again. They covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was black; and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left; nothing green was left, no tree, no plant in the field, in all the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh hurriedly summoned Moses and said, ‘I have sinned against Yhwh your God, and against you. Do forgive my sin just this once, and pray to Yhwh your God that at the least he remove this deadly thing from me.’ So he went out from Pharaoh and prayed to Yhwh. Yhwh changed the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea; not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt.
But Yhwh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.
Sign 7: Firstborn
Yhwh said to Moses, ‘I will bring one more plague upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go from here; indeed, when he lets you go, he will drive you away. Tell the people that every man is to ask his neighbour and every woman is to ask her neighbour for objects of silver and gold.’ Yhwh gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, Moses himself was a man of great importance in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s officials, and in the sight of the people. Moses said, ‘Thus says Yhwh: About midnight I will go out through Egypt. Every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the female slave who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the livestock. Then there will be a loud cry throughout the whole land of Egypt, such as has never been nor will ever be again. But not a dog shall growl at any of the Israelites—not at people, not at animals—so that you may know that Yhwh makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. Then all these officials of yours shall come down to me, and bow low to me, saying, “Leave us, you and all the people who follow you.” After that I will leave.’ And in hot anger he left Pharaoh. Yhwh said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh will not listen to you, in order that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.’
Moses performed all these wonders before Pharaoh; but Yhwh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.
Yhwh said to Moses in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbour in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of Yhwh. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements: I am Yhwh. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to Yhwh; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a solemn assembly, and on the seventh day a solemn assembly; no work shall be done on those days; only what everyone must eat, that alone may be prepared by you. You shall observe the festival of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your companies out of the land of Egypt: you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a perpetual ordinance. In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day, you shall eat unleavened bread. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether an alien or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your settlements you shall eat unleavened bread. Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Go, select lambs for your families, and slaughter the passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin. None of you shall go outside the door of your house until morning. For Yhwh will pass through to strike down the Egyptians; when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, Yhwh will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down. You shall observe this rite as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children. When you come to the land that Yhwh will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance. And when your children ask you, “What do you mean by this observance?” you shall say, “It is the passover sacrifice to Yhwh, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.”’ And the people bowed down and worshipped. The Israelites went and did just as Yhwh had commanded Moses.
At midnight Yhwh struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his officials and all the Egyptians; and there was a loud cry in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. Then he summoned Moses in the night, and said, ‘Rise up, go away from my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship Yhwh, as you said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you said, and be gone. And bring a blessing on me too!’
Interpolation
Darkness
Then Yhwh said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand towards heaven so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.’ So Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven, and there was dense darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. People could not see one another, and for three days they could not move from where they were; but all the Israelites had light where they lived. Then Pharaoh summoned Moses, and said, ‘Go, worship Yhwh. Only your flocks and your herds shall remain behind. Even your children may go with you.’ But Moses said, ‘You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt-offerings to sacrifice to Yhwh our God. Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must choose some of them for the worship of Yhwh our God, and we will not know what to use to worship Yhwh until we arrive there.’ But Yhwh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go. Then Pharaoh said to him, ‘Get away from me! Take care that you do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.’ Moses said, ‘Just as you say! I will never see your face again.’
Other Sources
Plague
Psalm 78
Blood
He turned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.
Flies, Frogs
He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
and frogs, which destroyed them.
Caterpillars, Locusts
He gave their crops to the caterpillar,
and the fruit of their labour to the locust.
Hail, Frost, Livestock
He destroyed their vines with hail,
and their sycamores with frost.
He gave over their cattle to the hail,
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
Angels
He let loose on them his fierce anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of destroying angels.
Boils?
He made a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague.
Firstborn
He struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham.
Then he led out his people like sheep,
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
Plague
Psalm 105
Darkness
He sent darkness, and made the land dark;
they rebelled against his words.
Blood
He turned their waters into blood,
and caused their fish to die.
Frogs
Their land swarmed with frogs,
even in the chambers of their kings.
Flies, Gnats
He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
and gnats throughout their country.
Hail
He gave them hail for rain,
and lightning that flashed through their land.
He struck their vines and fig trees,
and shattered the trees of their country.
Locusts
He spoke, and the locusts came,
and young locusts without number;
they devoured all the vegetation in their land,
and ate up the fruit of their ground.
Firstborn
He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the first issue of all their strength.
Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold,
and there was no one among their tribes who stumbled.
Plague
4Q422
Blood
And he changed their [wate]rs to blood.
Frogs, Flies
Frogs were in all their land and gnats in all their territories, flies in their houses and they struck all their […]
Livestock
And he smote with pestile[nce all] their flock and their beasts he delivered to de[at]h.
Darkness
He pu[t dark]ness into their land and obscurity into their [hou]ses so that they could not see one another.
Hail, Frost
[And he smote] their land with hail and [their] soil [with] frost to cause [al]l the fruit of nourishment [to perish].
Locusts
And he brought locust to cover the face of the ea[rth], heavy locust in all their territory to eat everything in [their] la[nd …]
Firstborn
And God hardened Ph[araoh's] heart so that he should not [dis]miss [them …] and in order to increase wonders. [And he smote their first-born], the beginning of al[l their strength]
Plague
Philo, On the Life of Moses 1.91–134
Snake
the brother of Moses taking his rod, and shaking it in a very remarkable and demonstrative manner, threw it on the ground, and it immediately became a serpent […]
Blood
The brother of Moses, by the divine command, smote with his rod upon the river, and immediately, throughout its whole course, from Ethiopia down to the sea, it is changed into blood and simultaneously with its change, all the lakes, and ditches, and fountains, and wells, and spring, and every particle of water in all Egypt, was changed into blood […]
Frogs
For again, the brother of Moses, being ordered to do so, stretched out his hand and held his rod over all the canals, and lakes, and marches; and at the holding forth of his rod, so immense a multitude of frogs came up […]
Gnats
he now, in obedience to the command which he received, smote the ground with his rod, and an abundance of gnats was poured out everywhere […] it was so powerful that all Egypt fainted under the host of them, and was compelled to cry out, that ‘This is the anger of God!’ […]
Hail
the air suddenly assumed a new appearance, so that all the things which are seen in the most stormy and wintry countries, come upon it all together; abundance of rain, and torrents of dense and ceaseless hail, and heavy winds met together and beat against one another with violence; and the clouds burst, and there were incessant lightnings, and thunders, and continued roarings, and flashes which made a most wonderful and fearful appearance. […]
Locusts
And with this wind a countless number of animals was brought over the land, animals destroying all plants, locusts, which devoured every thing incessantly like a stream […]
Darkness
while it was bright daylight, on a sudden, a thick darkness overspread the land, as if an eclipse of the sun more complete than any common one had taken place. And it continued with a long series of clouds and impenetrable density […]
Firstborn
After which the tenth and last punishment came, exceeding in terror all that had gone before, namely, the death of the Egyptians themselves. Not of them all, for God had not decreed to make the whole country desolate, but only to correct it. Nor even of the greatest number of the men and women of every age all together, but he permitted the rest to live, and only passed sentence of death on all the first-born, beginning with the eldest of the king's sons
Plague
Josephus, Judean Antiquities 2.13.3, 2.14.1–6
Snake
he cast his rod down upon the ground, and commanded it to turn it self into a serpent […]
Blood
the Egyptian river ran with bloody water, at the command of God […]
Frogs
he sent another plague upon the Egyptians: an innumerable multitude of frogs […]
Gnats
there arose, out of the bodies of the Egyptians, an innumerable quantity of gnats […]
Boils
their bodies had terrible boils […]
Hail
hail was sent down from heaven […]
Locusts
After this a tribe of locusts […]
Darkness
a thick darkness, without the least light, spread it self over the Egyptians […]
Firstborn
the destruction of the first-born came upon the Egyptians […]
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