1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'This is what the LORD says: "Let my people go, so that they may serve me.
2 If you refuse to let them go, I am going to strike your whole country with frogs.
3 The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace, into your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your servants and among your people, into your ovens and your kneading troughs.
4 The frogs will come up over you, over your people and over all your servants."'"
5 And the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, the canals and the ponds, and bring the frogs up over the land of Egypt.'"
6 Aaron stretched his hand out over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
7 But the magicians did the same thing by their secret arts; they too brought frogs up over the land of Egypt.
8 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to the LORD to remove the frogs from me and my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the LORD."
9 Moses said to Pharaoh, "The honor is yours: tell me when I should pray for you, your servants and your people, for the frogs to be removed from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile."
10 "Tomorrow," he said. Moses replied, "It will be as you say, so that you will know there is no one like the LORD our God.
11 The frogs will go away from you, your houses, your servants and your people; they will be left only in the Nile."
12 After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the LORD about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh.
13 The LORD did what Moses asked: the frogs died off in the houses, the courtyards and the fields.
14 They were piled up in heaps, and the land reeked.
15 But when Pharaoh saw that he had some relief, he made his heart stubborn and would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
16 The LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground, and it will turn into gnats all over the land of Egypt.'"
17 They did so: Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the ground, and gnats came on people and animals. All the dust of the ground turned into gnats all over the land of Egypt.
18 The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. The gnats stayed on people and animals.
19 The magicians told Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." But Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
20 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh when he goes out to the water. Tell him, 'This is what the LORD says: "Let my people go, so that they may serve me.
21 If you do not let my people go, I am going to send swarms of flies on you, your servants and your people, and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be filled with the swarms, and so will the ground they stand on.
22 But on that day I will treat the land of Goshen differently, where my people live; no swarms will be there, so that you may know that I, the LORD, am in the midst of the land.
23 I will make a division between my people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow."'"
24 And the LORD did so. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh's palace and into his servants' houses, and all over Egypt the land was ruined by the swarms.
25 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go and sacrifice to your God here in the land."
26 Moses answered, "That would not be proper. What we sacrifice to the LORD our God is detestable to the Egyptians. If we offer sacrifices the Egyptians find detestable right in front of them, will they not stone us?
27 We must go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he commands us."
28 Pharaoh said, "I will let you go to sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness, only do not go too far. Pray for me."
29 Moses said, "As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the LORD, and tomorrow the swarms will go away from Pharaoh, his servants and his people. Only Pharaoh must not deceive us again by refusing to let the people go to sacrifice to the LORD."
30 Moses left Pharaoh's presence and prayed to the LORD.
31 The LORD did what Moses asked and removed the swarms from Pharaoh, his servants and his people; not a single one was left.
32 But this time too Pharaoh made his heart stubborn and did not let the people go.