So Mo-ses took his wife and his sons and put them on an ass, and went back to E-gypt with the rod of God in his hand.
And Mo-ses and Aa-ron went in to the king and begged him to let the He-brews go out of the land. And he would not, but laid more work on the men, and bade them make bricks with-out straw, and do all sorts of hard tasks.
And the Lord sent plagues on the land, and the ponds dried up, and all the large streams were turned to blood, and the fish died, and the stench of them made the air scarce fit to breathe. And there was no wa-ter they could drink. Then there came a plague of frogs, and they were so thick in the land that Pha-ra-oh said he would let the chil-dren of Is-ra-el go if Mo-ses would rid him of the frogs at the same time.
But the king did not keep his word, for as soon as he found the frogs grew less, he said the He-brews should not go.
Then the Lord smote the land with lice; but still Pha-ra-oh's heart was hard.
MOS-ES AT THE BURN-ING BUSH.
Then the Lord sent flies in such swarms that there was no place that was free from them, and they made the food not fit to eat.
And the king told Mo-ses he would let the bond-slaves go to serve their God, but they were not to go far till the land was rid of flies. Then Mo-ses went forth and prayed to God, and the flies left the land. But still the king's heart was hard, and he would not let them go.
Then the Lord sent worse plagues: the flocks and herds died; there were boils on man and beast; the crops did not come up, and rain, hail, and balls of fire came down from the sky. And still the heart of the king was as hard as stone. Then the Lord sent lo-custs, that ate up all the hail had left, and there was not a green leaf on the trees nor a blade of grass to be seen in the whole land.