Moses and Pharaoh — Bible Story for Kids

Exodus 3:1–12 WEB

¹Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb. ²The LORD’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. ³Moses said, “I will go now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” ⁴When the LORD saw that he came over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Here I am.” ⁵He said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.” ⁶Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. ⁷The LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. ⁸I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ⁹Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” ¹¹Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” ¹²He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

Exodus 4:10–16 WEB

¹⁰Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” ¹¹The LORD said to him, “Who made man’s mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn’t it I, the LORD? ¹²Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak.” ¹³Moses said, “Oh, Lord, please send someone else.” ¹⁴The LORD’s anger burned against Moses, and he said, “What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Also, behold, he is coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. ¹⁶He will be your spokesman to the people. It will happen that he will be to you a mouth, and you will be to him as God.

Exodus 5:1–2 WEB

¹Afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” ²Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don’t know the LORD, and moreover I will not let Israel go.”

Exodus 7:14–12:32 WEB

^7:14The LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn. He refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Behold, he is going out to the water. You shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him. You shall take the rod which was turned to a serpent in your hand. ¹⁶You shall tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. Behold, until now you haven’t listened.” ¹⁷The LORD says, “In this you shall know that I am the LORD. Behold: I will strike with the rod that is in my hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. ¹⁸The fish that are in the river will die and the river will become foul. The Egyptians will loathe to drink water from the river.”’” ¹⁹The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your rod, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood. There will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’” ²⁰Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. ²¹The fish that were in the river died. The river became foul. The Egyptians couldn’t drink water from the river. The blood was throughout all the land of Egypt. ²²The magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their enchantments. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as the LORD had spoken. ²³Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he didn’t even take this to heart. ²⁴All the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they couldn’t drink the river water. ²⁵Seven days were fulfilled, after the LORD had struck the river.

^8:1The LORD spoke to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. ²If you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your borders with frogs. ³The river will swarm with frogs, which will go up and come into your house, and into your bedroom, and on your bed, and into the house of your servants, and on your people, and into your ovens, and into your kneading troughs. ⁴The frogs shall come up both on you, and on your people, and on all your servants.”’” ⁵The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your rod over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.’” ⁶Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. ⁷The magicians did the same thing with their enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt. ⁸Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Entreat the LORD, that he take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD.” ⁹Moses said to Pharaoh, “I give you the honor of setting the time that I should pray for you, and for your servants, and for your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, and remain in the river only.” ¹⁰Pharaoh said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “Let it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God. ¹¹The frogs shall depart from you, and from your houses, and from your servants, and from your people. They shall remain in the river only.” ¹²Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to the LORD concerning the frogs which he had brought on Pharaoh. ¹³The LORD did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields. ¹⁴They gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. ¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and didn’t listen to them, as the LORD had spoken. ¹⁶The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.’” ¹⁷They did so; and Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and struck the dust of the earth, and there were lice on man, and on animal; all the dust of the earth became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. ¹⁸The magicians tried with their enchantments to produce lice, but they couldn’t. There were lice on man, and on animal. ¹⁹Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is God’s finger;” but Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as the LORD had spoken. ²⁰The LORD said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; behold, he comes out to the water; and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. ²¹Else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you, and on your servants, and on your people, and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground they are on. ²²I will set apart in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, to the end you may know that I am the LORD on the earth. ²³I will put a division between my people and your people. This sign shall happen by tomorrow.”’” ²⁴The LORD did so; and there came grievous swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses. In all the land of Egypt the land was corrupted by reason of the swarms of flies. ²⁵Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land!” ²⁶Moses said, “It isn’t appropriate to do so; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God. Behold, if we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, won’t they stone us? ²⁷We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us.” ²⁸Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness, only you shall not go very far away. Pray for me.” ²⁹Moses said, “Behold, I am going out from you. I will pray to the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow; only don’t let Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.” ³⁰Moses went out from Pharaoh, and prayed to the LORD. ³¹The LORD did according to the word of Moses, and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. There remained not one. ³²Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he didn’t let the people go.

^9:1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, that they may serve me. ²For if you refuse to let them go, and hold them still, ³behold, the LORD’s hand is on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks with a very grievous pestilence. ⁴The LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt; and nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.”’” ⁵The LORD appointed a set time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land.” ⁶The LORD did that thing on the next day; and all the livestock of Egypt died, but of the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died. ⁷Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not so much as one of the livestock of the Israelites dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was stubborn, and he didn’t let the people go. ⁸The LORD said to Moses and to Aaron, “Take handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh. ⁹It shall become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and shall be boils and blisters breaking out on man and on animal, throughout all the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰They took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward the sky; and it became boils and blisters breaking out on man and on animal. ¹¹The magicians couldn’t stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians. ¹²The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he didn’t listen to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses. ¹³The LORD said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, that they may serve me. ¹⁴For this time I will send all my plagues against your heart, against your officials, and against your people; that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. ¹⁵For now I would have stretched out my hand, and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth; ¹⁶but indeed for this cause I have made you stand: to show you my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth, ¹⁷because you still exalt yourself against my people, that you won’t let them go. ¹⁸Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as has not been in Egypt since the day it was founded even until now. ¹⁹Now therefore command that all of your livestock and all that you have in the field be brought into shelter. The hail will come down on every man and animal that is found in the field, and isn’t brought home, and they will die.”’” ²⁰Those who feared the LORD’s word among the servants of Pharaoh made their servants and their livestock flee into the houses. ²¹Whoever didn’t respect the LORD’s word left his servants and his livestock in the field. ²²The LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man, and on animal, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.” ²³Moses stretched out his rod toward the heavens, and the LORD sent thunder and hail; and lightning flashed down to the earth. The LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt. ²⁴So there was very severe hail, and lightning mixed with the hail, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. ²⁵The hail struck throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and animal; and the hail struck every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field. ²⁶Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail. ²⁷Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. ²⁸Pray to the LORD; for there has been enough of mighty thunderings and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” ²⁹Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunders shall cease, and there will not be any more hail; that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s. ³⁰But as for you and your servants, I know that you don’t yet fear the LORD God.” ³¹The flax and the barley were struck, for the barley had ripened and the flax was blooming. ³²But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they had not grown up. ³³Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread out his hands to the LORD; and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth. ³⁴When Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders had ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. ³⁵The heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he didn’t let the children of Israel go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.

^10:1The LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs among them; ²and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your son’s son, what things I have done to Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that you may know that I am the LORD.” ³Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. ⁴Or else, if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, ⁵and they shall cover the surface of the earth, so that one won’t be able to see the earth. They shall eat the residue of that which has escaped, which remains to you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which grows for you out of the field. ⁶Your houses shall be filled, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.’” He turned, and went out from Pharaoh. ⁷Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD, their God. Don’t you yet know that Egypt is destroyed?” ⁸Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the LORD your God; but who are those who will go?” ⁹Moses said, “We will go with our young and with our old. We will go with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds; for we must hold a feast to the LORD.” ¹⁰He said to them, “The LORD be with you if I let you go with your little ones! See, evil is clearly before your faces. ¹¹Not so! Go now you who are men, and serve the LORD; for that is what you desire!” Then they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence. ¹²The LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail has left.” ¹³Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind on the land all that day, and all night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. ¹⁴The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt. They were very grievous. Before them there were no such locusts as they, nor will there ever be again. ¹⁵For they covered the surface of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened, and they ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. There remained nothing green, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt. ¹⁶Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you. ¹⁷Now therefore please forgive my sin again, and pray to the LORD your God, that he may also take away from me this death.” ¹⁸Moses went out from Pharaoh, and prayed to the LORD. ¹⁹The LORD sent an exceedingly strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the borders of Egypt. ²⁰But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he didn’t let the children of Israel go. ²¹The LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.” ²²Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. ²³They didn’t see one another, and nobody rose from his place for three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. ²⁴Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, “Go, serve the LORD. Only let your flocks and your herds stay behind. Let your little ones also go with you.” ²⁵Moses said, “You must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God. ²⁶Our livestock also shall go with us. Not a hoof shall be left behind, for of it we must take to serve the LORD our God; and we don’t know with what we must serve the LORD, until we come there.” ²⁷But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he wouldn’t let them go. ²⁸Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Be careful to see my face no more; for in the day you see my face you shall die!” ²⁹Moses said, “You have spoken well. I will see your face again no more.”

^11:1The LORD said to Moses, “I will bring yet one more plague on Pharaoh, and on Egypt; afterwards he will let you go. When he lets you go, he will surely thrust you out altogether. ²Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man ask of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold.” ³The LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people. ⁴Moses said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go out into the middle of Egypt, ⁵and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of livestock. ⁶There will be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been, nor will be any more. ⁷But against any of the children of Israel a dog won’t even bark or move its tongue, against man or animal, that you may know that the LORD makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel. ⁸All these servants of yours will come down to me, and bow down themselves to me, saying, “Get out, with all the people who follow you;” and after that I will go out.’” He went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. ⁹The LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh won’t listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he didn’t let the children of Israel go out of his land.

^12:1The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ²“This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. ³Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household; ⁴and if the household is too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the souls. You shall make your count for the lamb according to what everyone can eat. ⁵Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening. ⁷They shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two door posts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they shall eat it. ⁸They shall eat the meat in that night, roasted with fire, with unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs. ⁹Don’t eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire; with its head, its legs and its inner parts. ¹⁰You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire. ¹¹This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s Passover. ¹²For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. ¹³The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. ¹⁴This day shall be a memorial for you. You shall keep it as a feast to the LORD. You shall keep it as a feast throughout your generations by an ordinance forever. ¹⁵“‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶In the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no kind of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, only that may be done by you. ¹⁷You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this same day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever. ¹⁸In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at evening. ¹⁹There shall be no yeast found in your houses for seven days, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a foreigner, or one who is born in the land. ²⁰You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread.’” ²¹Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, “Draw out, and take lambs according to your families, and kill the Passover. ²²You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two door posts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. ²³For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two door posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you. ²⁴You shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. ²⁵It shall happen when you have come to the land which the LORD will give you, as he has promised, that you shall keep this service. ²⁶It will happen, when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ ²⁷that you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, and spared our houses.’” The people bowed their heads and worshiped. ²⁸The children of Israel went and did so; as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. ²⁹At midnight, the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. ³⁰Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. ³¹He called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said! ³²Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also!”