1. The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the king of Egypt. I have made him and his officers stubborn. I did this so I could show them my powerful miracles.
2. I also did this so you could tell your children and your grandchildren. Tell them how I made fools of the Egyptians. Tell them about the miracles I did among them. Then all of you will know that I am the Lord.”
3. So Moses and Aaron went to the king. They told him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to be sorry for what you have done? Let my people go to worship me.
4. If you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country.
5. They will cover the land, and no one will be able to see the ground. They will eat anything that was left from the hailstorm. They will eat the leaves from every tree growing in the field.
6. They will fill your palaces and all your officers’ houses. They will fill the houses of all the Egyptian people. There will be more locusts than your fathers or ancestors have ever seen. There will be more locusts than there have been since people began living in Egypt.’” Then Moses turned and walked away from the king.
7. The king’s officers asked him, “How long will this man make trouble for us? Let the Israelite men go to worship the Lord their God. Don’t you know that Egypt is ruined?”