11
Yahweh declared that all the oldest sons of the Egyptians would die, and then the king’s officials would plead for the Israeli people to leave Egypt
1 Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “I will cause one more disaster to strike the king of Egypt and all his people [MTY]. After that, he will let you leave. In fact, he will expel you all.
2 So now speak to all the Israeli people. Tell them to ask all their Egyptian neighbors, both men and women, to give them some silver and gold jewelry.”
3 Yahweh made the Egyptians highly respect the Israeli people. In particular, the Egyptian officials and all the rest of the people considered Moses/me to be a very great man.
4 Then Moses/I went to the king and said, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘About midnight tonight I will go throughout Egypt,
5 and I will cause all the firstborn/oldest sons to die. That will include your oldest son, the oldest sons of the slave women who grind grain, and the oldest sons of everyone else. I will also kill the oldest males of the Egyptians’ livestock.
6 When that happens, people all over Egypt will wail loudly. They have never wailed like that before, and they will never wail like that again.
7 But among the Israeli people it will be so quiet that not even a dog will bark! Then you will know for sure that I, Yahweh, distinguish how I act toward the Egyptians and how I act toward the Israeli people.
8 Then all these officials of yours will come and bow down before me and will say, “Please get out of Egypt, you and all the Israeli people!” ’ After that, I will leave Egypt!” After Moses/I said that, he/I very angrily left the king.
9 Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “The king will not pay any attention to what you say. The result will be that I will perform more plagues in the land of Egypt.”
10 Aaron and Moses/I performed all these miracles in front of the king, but Yahweh made the king stubborn, and he did not let the Israeli people leave his country.