15. For the locusts covered the whole country and darkened the land. They devoured every plant in the fields and all the fruit on the trees that had survived the hailstorm. Not a single leaf was left on the trees and plants throughout the land of Egypt.
16. Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron. “I have sinned against the lord your God and against you,” he confessed.
17. “Forgive my sin, just this once, and plead with the lord your God to take away this death from me.”
18. So Moses left Pharaoh’s court and pleaded with the lord.
19. The lord responded by shifting the wind, and the strong west wind blew the locusts into the Red Sea. Not a single locust remained in all the land of Egypt.
20. But the lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart again, so he refused to let the people go.
21. Then the lord said to Moses, “Lift your hand toward heaven, and the land of Egypt will be covered with a darkness so thick you can feel it.”