Frogs

¹Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the king and tell him that the Lord says, ‘Let my people go, so that they can worship me.

²If you refuse, I will punish your country by covering it with frogs.

³The Nile will be so full of frogs that they will leave it and go into your palace, your bedroom, your bed, the houses of your officials and your people, and even into your ovens and baking pans.

⁴They will jump up on you, your people, and all your officials.’”

⁵The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to hold out his walking stick over the rivers, the canals, and the pools, and make frogs come up and cover the land of Egypt.”

⁶So Aaron held it out over all the water, and the frogs came out and covered the land.

⁷But the magicians used magic, and they also made frogs come up on the land.

⁸The king called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take away these frogs, and I will let your people go, so that they can offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

⁹Moses replied, “I will be glad to pray for you. Just set the time when I am to pray for you, your officers, and your people. Then you will be rid of the frogs, and there will be none left except in the Nile.”

¹⁰The king answered, “Pray for me tomorrow.” Moses said, “I will do as you ask, and then you will know that there is no other god like the Lord, our God.

¹¹You, your officials, and your people will be rid of the frogs, and there will be none left except in the Nile.”

¹²Then Moses and Aaron left the king, and Moses prayed to the Lord to take away the frogs which he had brought on the king.

¹³The Lord did as Moses asked, and the frogs in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields died.

¹⁴The Egyptians piled them up in great heaps, until the land stank with them.

¹⁵When the king saw that the frogs were dead, he became stubborn again and, just as the Lord had said, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron.

Gnats

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to strike the ground with his stick, and all over the land of Egypt the dust will change into gnats.”

¹⁷So Aaron struck the ground with his stick, and all the dust in Egypt was turned into gnats, which covered the people and the animals.

¹⁸The magicians tried to use their magic to make gnats appear, but they failed. There were gnats everywhere,

¹⁹and the magicians said to the king, “God has done this!” But the king was stubborn and, just as the Lord had said, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron.

Flies

²⁰The Lord said to Moses, “Early tomorrow morning go and meet the king as he goes to the river, and tell him that the Lord says, ‘Let my people go, so that they can worship me.

²¹I warn you that if you refuse, I will punish you by sending flies on you, your officials, and your people. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies, and the ground will be covered with them.

²²But I will spare the region of Goshen, where my people live, so that there will be no flies there. I will do this so that you will know that I, the Lord, am at work in this land.

²³I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This miracle will take place tomorrow.’”

²⁴The Lord sent great swarms of flies into the king's palace and the houses of his officials. The whole land of Egypt was brought to ruin by the flies.

²⁵Then the king called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Go and offer sacrifices to your God here in this country.”

²⁶“It would not be right to do that,” Moses answered, “because the Egyptians would be offended by our sacrificing the animals that we offer to the Lord our God. If we use these animals and offend the Egyptians by sacrificing them where they can see us, they will stone us to death.

²⁷We must travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, just as he commanded us.”

²⁸The king said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord, your God, in the desert, if you do not go very far. Pray for me.”

²⁹Moses answered, “As soon as I leave, I will pray to the Lord that tomorrow the flies will leave you, your officials, and your people. But you must not deceive us again and prevent the people from going to sacrifice to the Lord.”

³⁰Moses left the king and prayed to the Lord,

³¹and the Lord did as Moses asked. The flies left the king, his officials, and his people; not one fly remained.

³²But even this time the king became stubborn, and again he would not let the people go.

¹The Lord gave the following regulations to Moses.

²An offering is to be made if any of you sin against the Lord by refusing to return what another Israelite has left as a deposit or by stealing something from him or by cheating him

³or by lying about something that has been lost and swearing that you did not find it.

^4-5When you sin in any of these ways, you must repay whatever you got by dishonest means. On the day you are found guilty, you must repay the owner in full, plus an additional 20 percent.

⁶You shall bring to the priest as your repayment offering to the Lord a male sheep or goat without any defects. Its value is to be determined according to the official standard.

⁷The priest shall offer the sacrifice for your sin, and you will be forgiven.

Sacrifices Burned Whole

⁸The Lord commanded Moses

⁹to give Aaron and his sons the following regulations for burnt offerings. A burnt offering is to be left on the altar all night long, and the fire is to be kept burning.

¹⁰Then the priest, wearing his linen robe and linen shorts, shall remove the greasy ashes left on the altar and put them at the side of the altar.

¹¹Then he shall change his clothes and take the ashes outside the camp to a ritually clean place.

¹²The fire on the altar must be kept burning and never allowed to go out. Every morning the priest shall put firewood on it, arrange the burnt offering on it, and burn the fat of the fellowship offering.

¹³The fire must always be kept burning on the altar and never allowed to go out.

Grain Offerings

¹⁴The following are the regulations for grain offerings. An Aaronite priest shall present the grain offering to the Lord in front of the altar.

¹⁵Then he shall take a handful of the flour and oil, and the incense on it, and burn it on the altar as a token that all of it has been offered to the Lord. The odor of this offering is pleasing to the Lord.

^16-17The priests shall eat the rest of it. It shall be made into bread baked without yeast and eaten in a holy place, the courtyard of the Tent of the Lord's presence. The Lord has given it to the priests as their part of the food offerings. It is very holy, like the sin offerings and the repayment offerings.

¹⁸For all time to come any of the male descendants of Aaron may eat it as their continuing share of the food offered to the Lord. Anyone else who touches a food offering will be harmed by the power of its holiness.

¹⁹The Lord gave Moses the following regulations

²⁰for the ordination of an Aaronite priest. On the day he is ordained, he shall present as an offering to the Lord two pounds of flour (the same amount as the daily grain offering), half in the morning and half in the evening.

²¹It is to be mixed with oil and cooked on a griddle and then crumbled and presented as a grain offering, an odor pleasing to the Lord.

²²For all time to come this offering is to be made by every descendant of Aaron who is serving as High Priest. It shall be completely burned as a sacrifice to the Lord.

²³No part of a grain offering that a priest makes may be eaten; all of it must be burned.

Sin Offerings

²⁴The Lord commanded Moses

²⁵to give Aaron and his sons the following regulations for sin offerings. The animal for a sin offering shall be killed on the north side of the altar, where the animals for the burnt offerings are killed. This is a very holy offering.

²⁶The priest who sacrifices the animal shall eat it in a holy place, the courtyard of the Tent of the Lord's presence.

²⁷Anyone or anything that touches the flesh of the animal will be harmed by the power of its holiness. If any article of clothing is spattered with the animal's blood, it must be washed in a holy place.

²⁸Any clay pot in which the meat is boiled must be broken, and if a metal pot is used, it must be scrubbed and rinsed with water.

²⁹Any male of the priestly families may eat this offering; it is very holy.

³⁰But if any of the blood is brought into the Tent and used in the ritual to take away sin, the animal must not be eaten; it must be burned.

Zion, the City of God

¹The Lord is great and is to be highly praised in the city of our God, on his sacred hill.

²Zion, the mountain of God, is high and beautiful; the city of the great king brings joy to all the world.

³God has shown that there is safety with him inside the fortresses of the city.

⁴The kings gathered together and came to attack Mount Zion.

⁵But when they saw it, they were amazed; they were afraid and ran away.

⁶There they were seized with fear and anguish, like a woman about to bear a child,

⁷like ships tossing in a furious storm.

⁸We have heard what God has done, and now we have seen it in the city of our God, the Lord Almighty; he will keep the city safe forever.

⁹Inside your Temple, O God, we think of your constant love.

¹⁰You are praised by people everywhere, and your fame extends over all the earth. You rule with justice;

¹¹let the people of Zion be glad! You give right judgments; let there be joy in the cities of Judah!

¹²People of God, walk around Zion and count the towers;

¹³take notice of the walls and examine the fortresses, so that you may tell the next generation:

¹⁴“This God is our God forever and ever; he will lead us for all time to come.”