7. Pharaoh’s officials now came to Pharaoh and appealed to him. “How long will you let this man hold us hostage? Let the men go to worship the lord their God! Don’t you realize that Egypt lies in ruins?”
8. So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “All right,” he told them, “go and worship the lord your God. But who exactly will be going with you?”
9. Moses replied, “We will all go—young and old, our sons and daughters, and our flocks and herds. We must all join together in celebrating a festival to the lord.”
10. Pharaoh retorted, “The lord will certainly need to be with you if I let you take your little ones! I can see through your evil plan.
11. Never! Only the men may go and worship the lord, since that is what you requested.” And Pharaoh threw them out of the palace.
12. Then the lord said to Moses, “Raise your hand over the land of Egypt to bring on the locusts. Let them cover the land and devour every plant that survived the hailstorm.”
13. So Moses raised his staff over Egypt, and the lord caused an east wind to blow over the land all that day and through the night. When morning arrived, the east wind had brought the locusts.
14. And the locusts swarmed over the whole land of Egypt, settling in dense swarms from one end of the country to the other. It was the worst locust plague in Egyptian history, and there has never been another one like it.
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.