Source Text
And the Lord said to Mosheh, Uplift thy hand towards the height of the heavens, and there shall be hail on all the land of Mizraim, upon men, and upon beasts, and upon every herb of the field in the land of Mizraim.
Read Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus in source order, passage by passage, with the close English translation where available and the original source text for checking.
And the Lord said to Mosheh, Uplift thy hand towards the height of the heavens, and there shall be hail on all the land of Mizraim, upon men, and upon beasts, and upon every herb of the field in the land of Mizraim.
And Mosheh lifted up his rod toward the height of the heavens, and the Lord gave forth thunders and hailstones with flaming, fire upon the ground; the Lord made the hail descend upon the land of Mizraim.
And there was hail, and fire darting among the hail with exceeding force: unto it had never been the like in all the land of Mizraim ever since it was a nation and a kingdom.
And the hail smote in all the land of Mizraim whatsoever was in the field, of men and of cattle, and all the herbage of the field the hail smote, and every tree of the field it shattered and uprooted.
And Pharoh sent certain to call Mosheh and Aharon; and he said to them, This time I have sinned. I know that the Lord is a righteous God, and that I and my people have deserved every one of these plagues.
Intercede before the Lord, that with Him it may be enough, and there may be no more maledictory thunders nor hail from the presence of the Lord; and I will release you, and no longer hinder.
And Mosheh said to him, When I have gone out from thee into the city, I will outspread my hands in prayer before the Lord, and the thunders shall cease, and there shall be no more hail; that you may know that the earth is the Lord's.
And Mosheh and Aharon went out from Pharoh to the suburb, and he stretched out his hands in prayer before the Lord, and the thunders of the curse were withheld, and the hail and rain that were descending came not on the earth.
And Pharoh saw that the rain and hail and the thunders of the curse had ended, and he added to sin, and made strong the design of his heart, both he and his servants.
And the Lord spake to Mosheh, Go in unto Pharoh; for I have made strong the design of his heart, and the design of the heart of his servants, to set these My signs among them;
and that in the hearing of thy sons and of thy children's children may be told the wonders I have done in Mizraim, and the signs that I set among them, that ye may know that I am the Lord.
And Mosheh and Aharon went in unto Pharoh, and said to him, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before Me? Let My people go, that they may worship before Me.
and they shall cover the face of the ground, so that it will be impossible to see the ground, and shall destroy the remainder that was spared to you from the hail, and destroy every tree which groweth for you out of the field.
And they shall fill thy house, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of the Mizraee, (the like of) which neither thy fathers nor thy forefathers have seen since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned and went out from Pharoh.
And the servants of Pharoh said, How long shall this man be a stumbling-block to us? Let the men be released, that they may worship before the Lord their God. Art thou not aware that by His hand it will be that the land of Mizraim shall be destroyed?
And Mosheh said, With our children and with our old men will we go; with our sons and with our daughters we will go; with our sheep and with our oxen we will go; for we have a solemn feast before the Lord.
And he said to them, So may the Word of the Lord be a help to you: (but) how can I release (both) you and your children? The evil offence is in the look of your faces: (you think to go onward) in the way that you would walk, till the time that you shall have come to the house of the place of your habitation.
(It shall be) not so as ye devise; but the men only shall go and worship before the Lord; for that it was which ye demanded. And he drave them out from before the face of Pharoh.
And the Lord spake to Mosheh, Lift up thy hand over the land of Mizraim for the locust, that he may come up over the land of Mizraim, and destroy every herb of the earth, whatsoever the hail hath left.
And Mosheh lifted up his rod over the land of Mizraim, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the country all that day and all the night; and in the morning the east wind bare the locust.
And the locust came up over all the land of Mizraim, and settled in all the limits of Mizraim exceedingly strong. Before him there had been no locust so hard, nor will there be like him.
And he covered the face of all the land, until the land was darkened, and every herb of the ground was consumed, and all the fruit of the tree that the hail had left; and nothing green of tree or herb of the field was left in all the land of Mizraim.
And the Lord turned a wind from the west of exceeding strength, and it carried away the locust, and bare him to the sea of Suph: there was not one locust left in all the borders of Mizraim. And even such as had been salted in vessels for needed food, those, too, the western wind bare away, and they went.
And the Lord said to Mosheh, Lift up thy hand towards the height of the heavens, and there shall be darkness over all the land of Mizraim, in the morning, at the passing away of the first darkness of the night.
No man saw his brother, and none arose from his place three days. But among all the sons of Israel there was light, that the wicked among them who died might be buried, and that the righteous might be occupied with the precepts of the law in their dwellings.
And at the end of three days Pharoh called Mosheh, and said, Go, worship before the lord; only your sheep and your oxen shall abide with me: your children also may go with you.
Our flocks, moreover, must go with us; not one hoof of them shall remain; for from them we are to take, to do service before the Lord our God. We cannot leave them; for we know not (as yet) in what manner we are to worship before the Lord, until we come thither.
And Pharoh said to him, Go from me. Beware that thou add not to see my face to speak before me one of these words that are so hard: for in the day that thou seest my face, my anger will grow strong against thee, and I will deliver thee into the hands of the men who seek thy life to take it.
And Mosheh said, Thou hast spoken fairly. While I was dwelling in Midian, it was told me in a word from before the Lord, that the men who had sought to kill me had fallen from their means, and were reckoned with the dead. At the end there will be no mercy upon thee; but I will pray, and the plague shall be restrained from thee. And now I will see thy face no more.
Speak now in the hearing of the people, That every man shall demand from his Mizraite friend, and every woman of her Mizraite friend, vessels of silver and vessels of gold.
And the Lord gave the people favour before the Mizraee; also the man Mosheh was very great in the land of Mizraim before the servants of Pharoh and before his people.
and every firstborn in the land of Mizraim shall die: from the firstborn of Pharoh who should sit upon the throne of his kingdom, unto the firstborn son of the humblest mother in Mizraim who grindeth behind the mills, and all the firstborn of cattle.
And there will be a great cry in all the land of Mizraim, because like the plague of this night there hath not been, and like the plague of this night there never will be one.
But any of the children of Israel a dog shall not harm by lifting up his tongue against either man or beast; that they may know that the Lord maketh distinction between the Mizraites and the sons of Israel.
And thou shalt send down all thy servants to me, coming and beseeching me, saying, Go forth, thou and all the people who are with thee; and afterwards I will go. And he went out from Pharoh in great anger.
And Mosheh and Aharon did all these wonders before Pharoh; and the Lord strengthened the design of Pharoh's heart, and he would not release the sons of Israel from his land.
This month is ordained to be to you the beginning of the months; and from it you shall begin to number for festivals, and times, and cycles; it shall be to you the first of the number of the months of the year.
Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, In the tenth of this month, whose time is appointed for this time (occasion), and not for (coming) generations, they shall take to them a lamb for the house of a family, and, if many in number, they shall take a lamb for a house:
but if the men of the house are fewer than ten in number, in proportion to a sufficient number to eat the lamb, he and his neighbour who is nearest to his house shall take according to the number of souls: each man according to the sufficiency of his eating shall be counted for the lamb.
And it shall be bound and reserved for you until the fourteenth day of this month, that you may not know the fear of the Mizraee when they see it; and ye shall kill him according to the rite of all to congregation of the assembly of Israel, between the suns.