Story Producer 119 - The Plagues in Egypt

Ideas for a title:God destroys Egypt with many plagues.More plagues in Egypt.

The Lord God spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “Go tell the King over Egypt [Pharaoh] to let my Israelite people go out of Egypt.” But Pharaoh was stubborn and refused [would not do so]. So, God began to punish the country of Egypt.

First, the Lord God made the water become blood and killed every living thing in Egypt’s big river [Nile]. The river began to stink, and the river water made people sick.

Next, the Lord God made many, many frogs to come out of the river and to cover the land.

After that, the Lord God made dust on the ground to become gnats [swarms of tiny flies] that covered all the people and all their animals.

Still, the King refused to let [allow] the Hebrew people to go into the wilderness to worship God there. [The Egyptians called the Israelites Hebrews.]

So, the Lord God sent [many, many] big flies swarms into Pharaoh’s palace. Flies also came [went] into the houses of his officials, and all over the land [country].

[However/But] Flies did not come [go into the region] where the Israelite people dwelt [lived].

Then, Pharaoh said to Moses, “Your people may offer sacrifices [animals] to your God, but they must do so in Egypt.”

Moses replied, “No. We must go into the wilderness, because our God has commanded us to do so.Then, Pharaoh said, “Alright! They may go. Pray to your God to take away these flies.” When Moses prayed, the flies left.

But after the flies left, Pharaoh became stubborn again, and would not let the Israelites go [to the wilderness].

Next, the Lord God made the livestock [horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep and goats] in Egypt sick, and many died.

But the Israelites’ livestock did not get sick or die.

Pharaoh remained stubborn and would not let the Israelites go [to the wilderness].

Next, the Lord God said to Moses, “Throw handfuls of ashes [from fire] into the air.” When Moses did so, the wind blew the ashes everywhere. All the Egyptians and their livestock got painful boils [sores with puss].

The Lord God himself made Pharaoh so stubborn that he would not listen to Moses and Aaron any more.

Next, the Lord God sent [caused] lightening, thunder and hail [rain turned into big chunks of ice] falling from the sky.

The hail fell on people and on livestock, knocking them to the ground. The hail destroyed their crops in fields and the leaves on all their trees.

But hail did not fall [in the region] where the Israelite people lived.

The King called for Moses and said, “Please pray to the Lord God to stop the hail falling.”

So, Moses went out of the city [king’s village] and prayed to the Lord God. Then the hail stopped falling.

Moses always prayed in a way that made Egypt’s king know that the Lord God is King over the whole earth [everywhere], and is stronger than the Egyptians’ gods.

But Egypt’s king sinned against the Lord God by being stubborn again. He refused to [would not] let the Israelites go [into the wilderness].

The Lord God said to Moses, “Go again and tell the king to let the Israelite people go [to the wilderness]. If he will not, then I will send locusts to eat all that the hail did not destroy. Then everyone will know that I the Lord am the great God [over all gods].”

When Moses spoke to the king, his words frightened the king’s officials. They said to him [the king], “Moses could destroy [kill] Egypt. So, let the Hebrew men [males] go worship their god in the wilderness.”

The king said to Moses, “The Hebrew men [males] may go worship their god [in the wilderness], but the Hebrew women and children may not go.”

The King became angry and ordered Moses and Aaron to leave his palace.

The Lord God made a wind blow over Egypt from the East [rising sun]. It brought so many locusts that they covered the ground.

The locusts ate every green plant in Egypt, so that no plants were left for food.

So the King called Moses and Aaron to come, and said to them, “I have sinned [done wrong] against you and against the Lord, your God. Please, ask your God to take away these locusts.”

Moses left the king’ palace and prayed to the Lord God. God then sent a strong wind from the West. This wind blew the locusts into the sea [big waters east of Egypt].

Well, the Lord God again made the king stubborn, and he refused to [would not let] the Israelites go [into the wilderness].

The Lord God said to Moses, “Raise your hand towards the sky.” When Moses did so, the sun stopped shining and Egypt turned dark [had no light].

Egypt remained very dark during three days and nights. The Egyptians could not see one another, so they did not leave their houses [during that time /those days].

But there was light where the Israelite people lived.

The King sent for Moses to come, and said to him, “Your men, women and children may go worship the Lord your God, but you must leave your livestock [herds / animals] in Egypt.”

Moses replied to The King, “No! You must allow [let] us to take our livestock with us [into the wilderness].

“We must sacrifice livestock to the Lord our God, but we will not know which livestock until [before] we arrive at the place where we are to [must] go.”

But the Lord God again made the king stubborn. He [the king] shouted at Moses, “Get out of my house!

“If I ever see you again, then my soldiers will kill you the same day!”

Moses replied, “That is right! You will never again see me!“O King! Hear words from the Lord God!

“In the middle of the [coming] night, I am going to [will] kill every Egyptian first-born son. Then you will know [surely] that I, the Lord, make a difference between my Hebrew people and the Egyptian people.”

Moses became angry and said to the king, “When that shall happen, your officials will bow down to me. They will beg us Israelites to leave [go out of] Egypt, and we will leave.”

Later, God said to Moses, “The king will not do as you said. So I shall do more mighty signs [miracles] for the Egyptians to see.

I will soon do something worse to the king and to Egypt. Then he [the king] will order you and the Israelites to leave Egypt.

“Now, you must give instructions [orders] to the Israelites, so they will be ready to leave Egypt.”

“Tell every family [household] to slay [kill] a young sheep or goat that has no blemishes [sores or injury]. Tell them to cook and eat it as a special meal. Call the meal Passover [to skip over / go over].

“Order [tell] every household [family] head [chief / leader]to take blood from the small goat or sheep that he killed. He must sprinkle [smear] that blood on the door posts and cross-piece of his house. When I see that blood, I will pass over his house.”

That night, the Israelite households roasted [cooked over fire] and ate their young sheep or goat. They also ate bitter herbs [plants] and flat bread [made without yeast]. They wore [traveling] clothes and shoes [while they ate], ready to leave Egypt.

In the middle of that night, a death-spirit came from the Lord God, and it killed all the Egyptians’ first-born sons, including [even] the king’s first-born son. The Egyptians’ gods were not able to save them.

However, when the death-spirit saw blood on a house’s doorway, it passed over that house and did not kill the first-born in that house.

The Lord God said to Moses, “From now on [henceforth], at this date every year, the Israelites are to [must] kill and eat a young sheep or goat. They are to do so to remember [celebrate] how the death-spirit from me passed over every house that had blood on its doorway.”