Pharaoh was terrified. Famine he knew now would follow; for they had neither meat nor corn for food. And again he promised freedom to the Israelites.
But when the storm had ceased, and the crops were again growing, he forgot his terror, and freed not the people.
Then the locusts came, millions upon millions of them. They swarmed upon every bit of green in all the land and devoured it,—the leaves, the grass, and the newly-growing crops. Not a leaf nor a blade was left. And again famine sent terror into the soul of Pharaoh. And again he promised freedom to the Israelites; and again he refused, when the plague was lifted, to keep his promise.
THE PLAGUE OF DARKNESS.
Then came a terrible darkness upon the country,—a darkness that no light could penetrate.
"Go, Moses," said Pharaoh again. "Go out from the land to the land thou lovest. Go; but leave behind thee thy cattle and thy possessions. Those belong to Egypt."
Now, to have set out with the great company of the Israelites without cattle and corn for food would have been worse than useless for starvation would have come upon them.
Therefore Moses answered, "No, Pharaoh, the Israelites go not forth from Egypt without their cattle and corn and all that belongs to them."