The Darkness

²¹ Then the Lord told Moses, “·Raise [Stretch; Extend] your hand toward the ·sky [heavens], and darkness will ·cover [^Lbe over] the land of Egypt. It will be so dark ·you will be able to feel it [or you will have to grope around].” ²² Moses ·raised [stretched; extended] his hand toward the ·sky [heavens], and ·total [dense; deep] darkness was everywhere in Egypt for three days. ²³ No one could see ·anyone else [^Lhis brother], and no one could go anywhere for three days. But the ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel] had light where they lived.

²⁴ Again ·the king of Egypt [^LPharaoh] called for Moses. He said, “All of you may go and ·worship [serve] the Lord. You may take your ·women and children [^Lchildren] with you, but you must leave your flocks and herds here.”

²⁵ Moses said, “You must ·let us have animals to use as [^Lgive into our hands] ·sacrifices [offerings] and burnt offerings [Lev. 1], ·because we have to offer them to [^L…for] the Lord our God. ²⁶ So we must take our animals with us; not a hoof will be left behind. We have to use some of the animals to ·worship [serve] the Lord our God. We won’t know exactly what we will need to ·worship [serve] the Lord until we get there.”

²⁷ But the Lord ·made the king stubborn again [^Lhardened the heart of Pharaoh], so he ·refused [was unwilling] to let them go. ²⁸ Then ·he [^LPharaoh] told Moses, “Get ·out of here [^Laway from me], ·and don’t come again [^Lwatch out that you don’t see my face again]! ·The next time you see me, [^LOn the day you see my face,] you will die.”

²⁹ Then Moses ·told the king [^Lsaid], “I’ll do what you say. I will not ·come to see you [^Lsee your face] again.”