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
11Verse 1Then 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.Verse 2So 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.”Verse 3Yahweh 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.Verse 4Then Moses/I went to the king and said, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘About midnight tonight I will go throughout Egypt,Verse 5and 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.Verse 6When that happens, people all over Egypt will wail loudly. They have never wailed like that before, and they will never wail like that again.Verse 7But 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.Verse 8Then 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.Verse 9Then 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.”Verse 10Aaron 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.