15. Bo

Parasha 15: Bo (Go) Exodus 10:1–13:16 (CJB)

Plague Eight: Locusts

¹ Adonai said to Moshe, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have made him and his servants hardhearted, so that I can demonstrate these signs of mine among them, ² so that you can tell your son and grandson about what I did to Egypt and about my signs that I demonstrated among them, and so that you will all know that I am Adonai.” ³ Moshe and Aharon went in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Here is what Adonai, God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go, so that they can worship me. ⁴ Otherwise, if you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. ⁵ One won’t be able to see the ground, so completely will the locusts cover it. They will eat anything you still have that escaped the hail, including every tree you have growing in the field. ⁶ They will fill your houses and those of your servants and of all the Egyptians. It will be like nothing your fathers or their fathers have ever seen since the day they were born until today.’ ” Then he turned his back and left.

⁷ Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How much longer must this fellow be a snare for us? Let the people go and worship Adonai their God. Don’t you understand yet that Egypt is being destroyed?” ⁸ So Moshe and Aharon were brought to Pharaoh again, and he said to them, “Go, worship Adonai your God. But who exactly is going?” ⁹ Moshe answered, “We will go with our young and our old, our sons and our daughters; and we will go with our flocks and herds; for we must celebrate a feast to Adonai.” ¹⁰ Pharaoh said to them, “Adonai certainly will be with you if I ever let you go with your children! It’s clear that you are up to no good. ¹¹ Nothing doing! Just the men among you may go and worship Adonai. That’s what you want, isn’t it?” And they were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence.

(ii) ¹² Adonai said to Moshe, “Reach out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that locusts will invade the land and eat every plant that the hail has left.” ¹³ Moshe reached out with his staff over the land of Egypt, and Adonai caused an east wind to blow on the land all day and all night; and in the morning the east wind brought the locusts. ¹⁴ The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled throughout Egypt’s territory. It was an invasion more severe than there had ever been before or will ever be again. ¹⁵ They completely covered the ground, so that the ground looked black. They ate every plant growing from the ground and all the fruit of the trees left by the hail. Not one green thing remained, not a tree and not a plant in the field, in all the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ Pharaoh hurried to summon Moshe and Aharon and said, “I have sinned against Adonai your God and against you. ¹⁷ Now, therefore, please forgive my sin just this once; and intercede with Adonai your God, so that he will at least take away from me this deadly plague!” ¹⁸ He went out from Pharaoh and interceded with Adonai. ¹⁹ Adonai reversed the wind and made it blow very strongly from the west. It took up the locusts and drove them into the Sea of Suf; not one locust remained on Egyptian soil. ²⁰ But Adonai made Pharaoh hardhearted, and he didn’t let the people of Isra’el go.

Plague Nine: Darkness

²¹ Adonai said to Moshe, “Reach out your hand toward the sky, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness so thick it can be felt!” ²² Moshe reached out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in the entire land of Egypt for three days. ²³ People couldn’t see each other, and no one went anywhere for three days. But all the people of Isra’el had light in their homes.

(iii) ²⁴ Pharaoh summoned Moshe and said, “Go, worship Adonai; only leave your flocks and herds behind—your children may go with you.” ²⁵ Moshe answered, “You must also see to it that we have sacrifices and burnt offerings, so that we can sacrifice to Adonai our God. ²⁶ Our livestock will also go with us—not a hoof will be left behind—because we must choose some of them to worship Adonai our God, and we don’t know which ones we will need to worship Adonai until we get there.” ²⁷ But Adonai made Pharaoh hardhearted, and he would not let them go. ²⁸ Pharaoh said to them, “Get away from me! And you had better not see my face again, because the day you see my face, you will die!” ²⁹ Moshe answered, “Well spoken! I will see your face no more.”

Plague Ten: Death to the First Born

11 ¹ Adonai said to Moshe, “I’m going to bring still one more plague on Pharaoh and Egypt, and after that he will let you leave here. When he does let you go, he will throw you out completely! ² Now tell the people that every man is to ask his neighbor and every woman her neighbor for gold and silver jewelry.” ³ Adonai made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people. Moreover, Moshe was regarded by Pharaoh’s servants and the people as a very great man in the land of Egypt.

(iv) ⁴ Moshe said, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘About midnight I will go out into Egypt, ⁵ and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the slave-girl at the handmill, and all the firstborn of the livestock. ⁶ There will be a horrendous wailing throughout all the land of Egypt—there has never been another like it, and there never will be again. ⁷ But not even a dog’s growl will be heard against any of the people of Isra’el, neither against people nor against animals. In this way you will realize that Adonai distinguishes between Egyptians and Isra’el. ⁸ All your servants will come down to me, prostrate themselves before me and say, “Get out!—you and all the people who follow you!” and after that, I will go out!’ ” And he went out from Pharaoh in the heat of anger. ⁹ Adonai said to Moshe, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that still more of my wonders will be shown in the land of Egypt.”

¹⁰ Moshe and Aharon did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but Adonai had made Pharaoh hardhearted, and he didn’t let the people of Isra’el leave his land.

12 ¹ Adonai spoke to Moshe and Aharon in the land of Egypt; he said, ² “You are to begin your calendar with this month; it will be the first month of the year for you. ³ Speak to all the assembly of Isra’el and say, ‘On the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb or kid for his family, one per household—⁴ except that if the household is too small for a whole lamb or kid, then he and his next-door neighbor should share one, dividing it in proportion to the number of people eating it. ⁵ Your animal must be without defect, a male in its first year, and you may choose it from either the sheep or the goats.

⁶ “ ‘You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and then the entire assembly of the community of Isra’el will slaughter it at dusk. ⁷ They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the two sides and top of the door-frame at the entrance of the house in which they eat it. ⁸ That night, they are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire; they are to eat it with matzah and maror. ⁹ Don’t eat it raw or boiled, but roasted in the fire, with its head, the lower parts of its legs and its inner organs. ¹⁰ Let nothing of it remain till morning; if any of it does remain, burn it up completely.

¹¹ “ ‘Here is how you are to eat it: with your belt fastened, your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand; and you are to eat it hurriedly. It is Adonai’s Pesach [Passover]. ¹² For that night, I will pass through the land of Egypt and kill all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both men and animals; and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt; I am Adonai. ¹³ The blood will serve you as a sign marking the houses where you are; when I see the blood, I will pass over [Hebrew: pasach] you—when I strike the land of Egypt, the death blow will not strike you.

¹⁴ “ ‘This will be a day for you to remember and celebrate as a festival to Adonai; from generation to generation you are to celebrate it by a perpetual regulation.

¹⁵ “ ‘For seven days you are to eat matzah—on the first day remove the leaven from your houses. For whoever eats hametz [leavened bread] from the first to the seventh day is to be cut off from Isra’el. ¹⁶ On the first and seventh days, you are to have an assembly set aside for God. On these days no work is to be done, except what each must do to prepare his food; you may do only that. ¹⁷ You are to observe the festival of matzah, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you are to observe this day from generation to generation by a perpetual regulation. ¹⁸ From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day, you are to eat matzah. ¹⁹ During those seven days, no leaven is to be found in your houses. Whoever eats food with hametz in it is to be cut off from the community of Isra’el—it doesn’t matter whether he is a foreigner or a citizen of the land. ²⁰ Eat nothing with hametz in it. Wherever you live, eat matzah.’ ”

(v) ²¹ Then Moshe called for all the leaders of Isra’el and said, “Select and take lambs for your families, and slaughter the Pesach lamb. ²² Take a bunch of hyssop leaves and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and smear it on the two sides and top of the door-frame. Then, none of you is to go out the door of his house until morning. ²³ For Adonai will pass through to kill the Egyptians; but when he sees the blood on the top and on the two sides, Adonai will pass over the door and will not allow the Slaughterer to enter your houses and kill you. ²⁴ You are to observe this as a law, you and your descendants forever.

²⁵ “When you come to the land which Adonai will give you, as he has promised, you are to observe this ceremony. ²⁶ When your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this ceremony?’ ²⁷ say, ‘It is the sacrifice of Adonai’s Pesach [Passover], because [Adonai] passed over the houses of the people of Isra’el in Egypt, when he killed the Egyptians but spared our houses.’ ” The people of Isra’el bowed their heads and worshipped. ²⁸ Then the people of Isra’el went and did as Adonai had ordered Moshe and Aharon—that is what they did.

(vi) ²⁹ At midnight Adonai killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. ³⁰ Pharaoh got up in the night, he, all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was horrendous wailing in Egypt; for there wasn’t a single house without someone dead in it. ³¹ He summoned Moshe and Aharon by night and said, “Up and leave my people, both you and the people of Isra’el; and go, serve Adonai as you said. ³² Take both your flocks and your herds, as you said; and get out of here! But bless me, too.” ³³ The Egyptians pressed to send the people out of the land quickly, because they said, “Otherwise we’ll all be dead!”

³⁴ The people took their dough before it had become leavened and wrapped their kneading bowls in their clothes on their shoulders. ³⁵ The people of Isra’el had done what Moshe had said—they had asked the Egyptians to give them silver and gold jewelry and clothing; ³⁶ and Adonai had made the Egyptians so favorably disposed toward the people that they had let them have whatever they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ The people of Isra’el traveled from Ra‘amses to Sukkot, some six hundred thousand men on foot, not counting children. ³⁸ A mixed crowd also went up with them, as well as livestock in large numbers, both flocks and herds. ³⁹ They baked matzah loaves from the dough they had brought out of Egypt, since it was unleavened; because they had been driven out of Egypt without time to prepare supplies for themselves.

⁴⁰ The time the people of Isra’el lived in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴¹ At the end of 430 years to the day, all the divisions of Adonai left the land of Egypt. ⁴² This was a night when Adonai kept vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt, and this same night continues to be a night when Adonai keeps vigil for all the people of Isra’el through all their generations.

⁴³ Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, “This is the regulation for the Pesach lamb: no foreigner is to eat it. ⁴⁴ But if anyone has a slave he bought for money, when you have circumcised him, he may eat it. ⁴⁵ Neither a traveler nor a hired servant may eat it. ⁴⁶ It is to be eaten in one house. You are not to take any of the meat outside the house, and you are not to break any of its bones. ⁴⁷ The whole community of Isra’el is to keep it. ⁴⁸ If a foreigner staying with you wants to observe Adonai’s Pesach, all his males must be circumcised. Then he may take part and observe it; he will be like a citizen of the land. But no uncircumcised person is to eat it. ⁴⁹ The same teaching is to apply equally to the citizen and to the foreigner living among you.”

⁵⁰ All the people of Isra’el did just as Adonai had ordered Moshe and Aharon. ⁵¹ On that very day, Adonai brought the people of Isra’el out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.

13 (vii) ¹ Adonai said to Moshe, ² “Set aside for me all the firstborn. Whatever is first from the womb among the people of Isra’el, both of humans and of animals, belongs to me.” ³ Moshe said to the people, “Remember this day, on which you left Egypt, the abode of slavery; because Adonai, by the strength of his hand, has brought you out of this place. Do not eat hametz. ⁴ You are leaving today, in the month of Aviv. ⁵ When Adonai brings you into the land of the Kena‘ani, Hitti, Emori, Hivi and Y’vusi, which he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you are to observe this ceremony in this month. ⁶ For seven days you are to eat matzah, and the seventh day is to be a festival for Adonai. ⁷ Matzah is to be eaten throughout the seven days; neither hametz nor leavening agents are to be seen with you throughout your territory. ⁸ On that day you are to tell your son, ‘It is because of what Adonai did for me when I left Egypt.’

⁹ “Moreover, it will serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder between your eyes, so that Adonai’s Torah may be on your lips; because with a strong hand Adonai brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰ Therefore you are to observe this regulation at its proper time, year after year. ¹¹ When Adonai brings you into the land of the Kena‘ani, as he swore to you and your ancestors, and gives it to you, ¹² you are to set apart for Adonai everything that is first from the womb. Every firstborn male animal will belong to Adonai. ¹³ Every firstborn from a donkey, you are to redeem with a lamb; but if you choose not to redeem it, you must break its neck. But from people, you are to redeem every firstborn son. (Maftir) ¹⁴ When, at some future time, your son asks you, ‘What is this?’ then say to him, ‘With a strong hand Adonai brought us out of Egypt, out of the abode of slavery. ¹⁵ When Pharaoh was unwilling to let us go, Adonai killed all the firstborn males in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of humans and the firstborn of animals. This is why I sacrifice to Adonai any male that is first from the womb of an animal, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶ This will serve as a sign on your hand and at the front of a headband around your forehead that with a strong hand Adonai brought us out of Egypt.”

Haftarah Bo: Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 46:13–28

Jeremiah 46:13–28 (CJB)

¹³ This word Adonai spoke to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning how N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel would come and attack the land of Egypt:

¹⁴  “Proclaim in Egypt, announce in Migdol,

announce in Nof and Tachpanches;

say: ‘Take your stand! Get ready!

For all around you the sword is destroying.

¹⁵  Why has your strong one been overthrown?

He failed to stand because Adonai pushed him down.

¹⁶  He caused many to trip;

yes, they fell all over each other.’ ”

Then they said, “Let’s get up,

let’s return to our own people,

back to the land where we were born,

away from the sword that destroys.”

¹⁷  They cried there, “Pharaoh king of Egypt makes noise,

but he lets the right time [for action] slip by.”

¹⁸  “As I live,” says the king,

whose name is Adonai–Tzva’ot,

“when he comes, he will be [as mighty]

as Tavor among the mountains,

as Karmel next to the sea.

¹⁹  “Daughter living in Egypt,

prepare what you need for exile;

for Nof will become a ruin,

laid waste, without inhabitant.

²⁰  Egypt is a beautiful female calf;

but a horsefly from the north has come to attack her.

²¹  Her mercenaries too, that she had with her,

were like well-fed calves in a stable;

but they too have withdrawn in retreat,

they all ran away without standing their ground.

For their day of disaster has come over them,

the time for them to be punished.

²²  Egypt hisses like a snake,

as the enemy’s army marches ahead,

attacking her with their axes

like lumbermen chopping trees.

²³  They cut down her forest,” says Adonai,

“for they cannot be numbered;

yes, there are more of them than locusts,

far too many to count.

²⁴  The daughter of Egypt is put to shame,

handed over to the people from the north.”

²⁵ Adonai–Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: “I will punish Amon from No, Pharaoh, and Egypt with her gods and kings—that is, Pharaoh and those who trust in him; ²⁶ I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel and to his servants. But afterwards, Egypt will be inhabited, as in the past,” says Adonai.

²⁷  “Yet don’t be afraid, Ya‘akov my servant;

don’t be distressed, Isra’el.

For I will save you from faraway places,

and your offspring from the lands where they are held captive.

Ya‘akov will return and be at peace,

quiet, with no one to make him afraid.

²⁸  Don’t be afraid, Ya‘akov my servant,”

says Adonai, “for I am with you.

I will finish off all the nations

where I have scattered you.

However, you I will not finish off,

I will discipline you as you deserve,

but not completely destroy you.”

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Bo:

Luke 2:1–24 (CJB)

¹ Around this time, Emperor Augustus issued an order for a census to be taken throughout the Empire. ² This registration, the first of its kind, took place when Quirinius was governing in Syria. ³ Everyone went to be registered, each to his own town. ⁴ So Yosef, because he was a descendant of David, went up from the town of Natzeret in the Galil to the town of David, called Beit-Lechem, in Y’hudah, ⁵ to be registered, with Miryam, to whom he was engaged, and who was pregnant. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for her to give birth; ⁷ and she gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him in cloth and laid him down in a feeding trough, because there was no space for them in the living-quarters.

⁸ In the countryside nearby were some shepherds spending the night in the fields, guarding their flocks, ⁹ when an angel of Adonai appeared to them, and the Sh’khinah of Adonai shone around them. They were terrified; ¹⁰ but the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, because I am here announcing to you Good News that will bring great joy to all the people. ¹¹ This very day, in the town of David, there was born for you a Deliverer who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² Here is how you will know: you will find a baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.” ¹³ Suddenly, along with the angel was a vast army from heaven praising God:

¹⁴  “In the highest heaven, glory to God!

And on earth, peace among people of good will!”

¹⁵ No sooner had the angels left them and gone back into heaven than the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go over to Beit-Lechem and see this thing that has happened, that Adonai has told us about.” ¹⁶ Hurrying off, they came and found Miryam and Yosef, and the baby lying in the feeding trough. ¹⁷ Upon seeing this, they made known what they had been told about this child; ¹⁸ and all who heard were amazed by what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ Miryam treasured all these things and kept mulling them over in her heart. ²⁰ Meanwhile, the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen; it had been just as they had been told.

²¹ On the eighth day, when it was time for his b’rit-milah, he was given the name Yeshua, which is what the angel had called him before his conception.

²² When the time came for their purification according to the Torah of Moshe, they took him up to Yerushalayim to present him to Adonai ²³ (as it is written in the Torah of Adonai, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to Adonai”) ²⁴ and also to offer a sacrifice of a pair of doves or two young pigeons, as required by the Torah of Adonai.

Yochanan (John) 19:31–37; Acts 13:16–17;

Revelation 8:6–9:12 (CJB)

⁶ Now the seven angels with the seven shofars prepared to sound them.

⁷ The first one sounded his shofar; and there came hail and fire mingled with blood, and it was thrown down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

⁸ The second angel sounded his shofar, and what looked like an enormous blazing mountain was hurled into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, ⁹ a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰ The third angel sounded his shofar; and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky onto a third of the rivers and onto the springs of water. ¹¹ The name of the star was “Bitterness,” and a third of the water became bitter, and many people died from the water that had been turned bitter.

¹² The fourth angel sounded his shofar; and a third of the sun was struck, also a third of the moon and a third of the stars; so that a third of them were darkened, the day had a third less light, and the night likewise.

¹³ Then I looked, and I heard a lone eagle give a loud cry, as it flew in mid-heaven, “Woe! Woe! Woe to the people living on earth, because of the remaining blasts from the three angels who have yet to sound their shofars!”

9 ¹ The fifth angel sounded his shofar; and I saw a star that had fallen out of heaven onto the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft leading down to the Abyss. ² He opened the shaft of the Abyss, and there went up smoke from the shaft like the smoke of a huge furnace; the sun was darkened, and the sky too, by the smoke from the shaft. ³ Then out of the smoke onto the earth came locusts, and they were given power like the power scorpions have on earth. ⁴ They were instructed not to harm the grass on the earth, any green plant or any tree, but only the people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ The locusts were not allowed to kill them, only to inflict pain on them for five months; and the pain they caused was like the pain of a scorpion sting. ⁶ In those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

⁷ Now these locusts looked like horses outfitted for battle. On their heads were what looked like crowns of gold, and their faces were like human faces. ⁸ They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like those of lions. ⁹ Their chests were like iron breastplates, and the sound their wings made was like the roar of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. ¹⁰ They had tails like those of scorpions, with stings; and in their tails was their power to hurt people for five months. ¹¹ They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is “Abaddon” and in our language, “Destroyer.”

¹² The first woe has passed, but there are still two woes to come.

Revelation 16:1–21 (CJB)

¹ I heard a loud voice from the sanctuary say to the seven angels, “Go, and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of God’s fury!”

² So the first one went and poured his bowl onto the earth, and disgusting and painful sores appeared on all the people who had the mark of the beast and worshipped its image.

³ The second one poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.

⁴ The third one poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they turned to blood. ⁵ Then I heard the angel of the waters say,

“O HaKadosh, the One who is and was,

you are just in these judgments of yours.

⁶  They poured out the blood of your people and your prophets,

so you have made them drink blood. They deserve it!”

⁷ Then I heard the altar say,

“Yes, Adonai, God of heaven’s armies,

your judgments are true and just!”

⁸ The fourth one poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was permitted to burn people with fire. ⁹ People were burned by the intense heat; yet they cursed the name of God, who had the authority over these plagues, instead of turning from their sins to give him glory.

¹⁰ The fifth one poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom grew dark. People gnawed on their tongues from the pain, ¹¹ yet they cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and sores, and did not turn from their sinful deeds.

¹² The sixth one poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water dried up, in order to prepare the way for the kings from the east. ¹³ And I saw three unclean spirits that looked like frogs; they came from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the beast and from the mouth of the false prophet. ¹⁴ They are miracle-working demonic spirits which go out to the kings of the whole inhabited world to assemble them for the War of the Great Day of Adonai–Tzva’ot. ¹⁵ (“Look! I am coming like a thief! How blessed are those who stay alert and keep their clothes clean, so that they won’t be walking naked and be publicly put to shame!”) ¹⁶ And they gathered the kings to the place which in Hebrew is called Har Megiddo.

¹⁷ The seventh one poured out his bowl on the air, and a loud voice came out of the Temple from the throne, saying, “It is done!” ¹⁸ There were flashes of lightning, voices and peals of thunder; and there was a massive earthquake, such as has never occurred since mankind has been on earth, so violent was the earthquake. ¹⁹ The great city was split into three parts, the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Bavel the Great and made her drink the wine from the cup of his raging fury. ²⁰ Every island fled, and no mountains were to be found. ²¹ And huge seventy-pound hailstones fell on people from the sky. But the people cursed God for the plague of hail, that it was such a terrible plague.