Chapter Overview
Summary
Exodus 10 narrates the eighth (locusts) and ninth (darkness) plagues. The chapter's theological hinge at 10:1–2 openly declares the hardening's pedagogical purpose — that Israel's generations might recount these signs. The darkness-plague (10:21–23) is the most cosmological of the ten: an un-creation that reverses Genesis 1's separation of light from darkness. Revelation 16:10 deliberately echoes this plague at the bowl-of-darkness on the throne of the Beast.
Notable Variants
The pedagogical-purpose theology at 10:2 ('that you may recount … so you may know that I am the LORD'); the humbling-language at 10:3 (tapeinōsai) that supplies James 4:10 and 1 Peter 5:6 with their 'humble yourselves' vocabulary; the felt-darkness paradox at 10:21 that Revelation 16:10 echoes; Pharaoh's decisive 'never see my face again' at 10:28 that sets up the dramatic reversal of chapter 11.
Structural Notes
LXX Exodus 10 preserves MT's 29-verse structure.
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, so that I may place these signs of Mine among them,
The LORD's 'I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants' (egō gar esklēryna tēn kardian) — now with both Pharaoh and his servants as subjects — tracks MT. This is the most explicit divine ownership of the hardening in the narrative.
and so that you may recount in the hearing of your son and grandson how I dealt severely with Egypt and what signs I placed among them — that you may know that I am the LORD."
Masoretic (WLC)
וּלְמַעַן תְּסַפֵּר בְּאָזְנֵי בִנְךָ וּבֶן־בִּנְךָ
so that you may recount in the hearing of your son and grandson
Septuagint (LXX)
ὅπως διηγήσησθε εἰς τὰ ὦτα τῶν τέκνων ὑμῶν καὶ τοῖς τέκνοις τῶν τέκνων ὑμῶν
so that you may recount in the hearing of your children and your children's children
The pedagogical-recounting purpose of the plagues — that they be told to successive generations — is a signature Exodus theology rendered diēgēsēsthe in LXX. The verb diēgeomai becomes the LXX-NT word for narrative proclamation (Mark 5:16, Luke 8:39, Acts 8:33, 9:27, 12:17, Heb 11:32).
The Passover Haggadah ('the father shall tell his son') develops this LXX-Exodus pedagogy into a structured liturgical telling. The same impulse carries into Christian catechesis.
So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may serve Me.
Masoretic (WLC)
עַד־מָתַי מֵאַנְתָּ לֵעָנֹת מִפָּנָי
How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me?
Septuagint (LXX)
ἕως τίνος οὐ βούλει ἐντραπῆναί με
How long will you refuse to turn to me in shame / humble yourself before me?
The Hebrew anah niphal ('humble oneself') is rendered entrapēnai ('be turned in shame, humbled'). James 4:10 ('humble yourselves before the Lord,' tapeinōthēte enōpion kyriou) and 1 Peter 5:6 ('humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,' tapeinōthēte hypo tēn krataian cheira tou theou) use tapeinoō vocabulary — semantically close to LXX Exodus but with a different specific verb.
The 'how long will you refuse' question-form is a prophetic confrontation formula: Jeremiah 4:14, 13:27, Psalm 82:2 (81 LXX), and Revelation 6:10 ('how long, O sovereign Lord') all deploy it.
For if you refuse to let My people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.
The locust-threat tracks MT. The LXX's akris ('locust') is the NT's word for John the Baptist's diet (Matt 3:4, Mark 1:6) — a deliberate Exodus-plague echo of John's eschatological ministry.
They shall cover the surface of the ground so that no one will be able to see the ground. They shall eat what remains to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field.
The devastation of remaining crops and trees tracks MT.
They shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians — something that neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came to be on the earth until this day." Then Moses turned and went out from Pharaoh.
The house-invasion threat tracks MT. The 'your fathers nor your grandfathers' formula — a plague unprecedented in living memory — is preserved in LXX.
Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go so that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?"
Pharaoh's servants' plea tracks MT. Their question 'do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?' marks the first recorded split within Pharaoh's own court.
So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, "Go, serve the LORD your God. But exactly who will be going?"
Moses and Aaron's return and Pharaoh's 'who will go?' tracks MT.
Moses said, "We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD."
Moses' demand that everyone — young and old, sons and daughters, livestock — must go tracks MT. The inclusive scope rejects Pharaoh's attempt to keep any Israelite remnant as hostage.
Pharaoh said to them, "The LORD had better be with you if I ever let you and your little ones go! Clearly, you have evil in mind.
Pharaoh's sarcastic 'the LORD had better be with you' and his accusation that Israel has 'evil in mind' tracks MT.
No! Go now, you men, and serve the LORD, for that is what you are asking." And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.
Pharaoh's partial concession (only men may go) and the expulsion of Moses and Aaron tracks MT.
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land — all that the hail has left."
The command to stretch out the hand for locusts tracks MT.
So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind over the land all that day and all that night. When morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts.
The east wind bringing the locusts tracks MT. The east-wind motif recurs at 14:21 (the wind that parts the Red Sea) — LXX's anemos notos there.
The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the entire territory of Egypt — a very dense swarm. Never before had there been so many locusts, and never again would there be.
The locust-swarm's totality ('never before … never again') tracks MT. Revelation 9:3–11 deploys locust-imagery drawing on Joel and Exodus — the locusts of Revelation are the Exodus plague eschatologically intensified.
They covered the surface of the whole land so that the land was darkened. They ate every plant in the land and every fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, throughout all the land of Egypt.
The total ecological devastation ('not a green thing remained') tracks MT.
Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you.
Pharaoh's second 'I have sinned' confession (hēmartēka) tracks MT — reusing the 9:27 formula. The confession-followed-by-hardening cycle continues.
Now please forgive my sin just this once, and plead with the LORD your God to remove this death from me."
Pharaoh's plea for forgiveness and removal of 'this death' tracks MT.
Moses went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the LORD.
Moses' departure and intercession tracks MT.
The LORD turned a very strong west wind that picked up the locusts and drove them into the Sea of Reeds. Not a single locust remained in all the territory of Egypt.
The west wind removing the locusts into the Sea of Reeds (thalassa erythra, 'Red Sea') tracks MT. The LXX's erythra ('red') is a loose rendering of the Hebrew suf ('reeds') — this becomes the translation that gave Western tradition 'Red Sea' rather than 'Sea of Reeds.'
But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go.
The LORD's hardening of Pharaoh tracks MT.
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt — a darkness that can be felt."
Masoretic (WLC)
וִיהִי חֹשֶׁךְ עַל־אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם וְיָמֵשׁ חֹשֶׁךְ
there may be darkness over the land of Egypt — a darkness that can be felt
Septuagint (LXX)
καὶ γενηθήτω σκότος ἐπὶ γῆν Αἰγύπτου ψηλαφητὸν σκότος
let there be darkness over the land of Egypt — darkness that can be groped
The LXX's psēlaphēton skotos ('darkness that can be groped/handled') is striking imagery. Psēlaphaō is the verb of touching-to-investigate (Acts 17:27, 'that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him'; 1 John 1:1, 'that which our hands have handled').
The felt-darkness paradox (darkness so thick it acquires physical substance) is preserved. Revelation 16:10 ('the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness; they gnawed their tongues in anguish') deliberately echoes the Exodus ninth plague — the beast's kingdom receives the Egyptian darkness.
So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness throughout all the land of Egypt for three days.
The three-day thick darkness over Egypt tracks MT.
They could not see one another, and no one rose from his place for three days. But all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings.
The Egyptians' immobility and the Israelites' continued light tracks MT. The light/darkness motif ('but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings') is the un-creation-and-preserved-creation contrast that Genesis 1:3–5 establishes.
Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, "Go, serve the LORD. Only your flocks and your herds shall remain behind. Even your little ones may go with you."
Pharaoh's offer of release with flocks retained tracks MT — the final pre-Passover negotiation, still attempting to keep a lien on Israel.
But Moses said, "You yourself must give us sacrifices and burnt offerings so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
Moses' demand that Pharaoh provide the sacrifices tracks MT. The inversion — Pharaoh must supply what Israel will offer — is the narrative's mounting pressure on Pharaoh's authority.
Our livestock also must go with us — not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take from them to serve the LORD our God, and we ourselves do not know with what we must serve the LORD until we arrive there."
'Not a hoof shall be left behind' tracks MT. The absolute demand closes off all remaining Pharaonic lien.
But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he was not willing to let them go.
The LORD's final hardening of Pharaoh tracks MT.
Pharaoh said to him, "Get away from me! Be careful never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die."
Pharaoh's angry dismissal ('be careful never to see my face again') tracks MT. The 'face' language (prosōpon) sets up the Passover-night climax when Pharaoh will summon Moses one last time (12:31).
Moses said, "You have spoken rightly. I will not see your face again."
Moses' acceptance ('I will not see your face again') closes the chapter. The promise is fulfilled in the narrative's own terms — Pharaoh's next summons will come not in court but in the night of the firstborn's death.