Escape from Egypt
Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said:
- The God of the Hebrews has sent us to lead the
children of Israel out into the wilderness to sacrifice to
him.
- I do not know this God. I don't know anything of him, nor of the wonders he does - Pharaoh replied.
Aaron then threw down his stick, and it immediately turned into a snake.
- My magicians can do that easily - said Pharaoh, and
called them in.
The Egyptian magicians also turned their staffs into snakes to show what they could do. But Aaron's snake swallowed up their crawling snakes in a flash.
Pharaoh became very angry, and instead of letting the Jews go, he made them work even harder.
The Eternal then sent plagues on the Egyptians.
After each plague, Pharaoh almost relented, but in the end, he always hardened his heart and would not let the Jews go.
God first turned all the rivers and all the waters that were in Egypt into blood.
Second, frogs came to the land.
Then came the lice, the flies, then livestock pestilence, boils, the hail, the locusts, the darkness, but still, Pharaoh was stubborn.
The last plague was the cruellest. The Eternal killed all the firstborn of Egypt, only sparing the house of the Jews, for he had told them beforehand to mark their doorposts with blood, and the angel of death would thus avoid them.
After the tenth plague, Pharaoh was utterly broken, for he had lost his firstborn son. He finally let the Jews go, and after many years of slavery, they were set free.
