The Lord said to Moses,“ Reach out your hand over Egypt so that locusts cover the land. They will eat up everything growing in the fields. They will eat up everything left by the hail.”So Moses reached out his walking stick over Egypt. Then the Lord made an east wind blow across the land. It blew all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts.Large numbers of them came down in every part of Egypt. There had never been a plague of locusts like it before. And there will never be one like it again.The locusts covered the ground until it was black. They ate up everything left after the hail. They ate up everything growing in the fields. They ate up the fruit on the trees. There was nothing green left on any tree or plant in the whole land of Egypt.
He spoke, and the locusts came. There were so many of them they couldn’t be counted.They ate up every green thing in the land. They ate up what the land produced.
The star opened the Abyss. Then smoke rose up from it like the smoke from a huge furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.Out of the smoke came locusts. They came down on the earth. They were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth.They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree. They were supposed to harm only the people without God’s official seal on their foreheads.The locusts were not allowed to kill these people. But the locusts could hurt them over and over for five months. The pain the people suffered was like the sting of a scorpion when it strikes.In those days, people will look for a way to die but won’t find it. They will want to die, but death will escape them.The locusts looked like horses ready for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold. Their faces looked like human faces.Their hair was like women’s hair. Their teeth were like lions’ teeth.Their chests were covered with something that looked like armor made out of iron. The sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.They had tails that could sting people like scorpions do. And in their tails they had power to hurt people over and over for five months.Their king was the angel of the Abyss. In the Hebrew language his name is Abaddon. In Greek it is Apollyon. His name means Destroyer.
The Lord says,“ I sent a great army of locusts to attack you. They included common locusts, giant locusts, young locusts and other locusts. I will make up for the years they ate your crops.
The giant locusts have eaten what the common locusts have left. The young locusts have eaten what the giant locusts have left. And other locusts have eaten what the young locusts have left.Get up and weep, you people who drink too much! Cry, all you who drink wine! Cry because the fresh wine has been taken away from you.The locusts are like a mighty army that has marched into our land. There are so many of them they can’t even be counted. Their teeth are as sharp as a lion’s teeth. They are like the fangs of a female lion.The locusts have completely destroyed our vines. They have wiped out our fig trees. They’ve stripped off the bark and thrown it away. They’ve left the branches bare.
The Lord and King gave me a vision. He was bringing large numbers of locusts on the land. The king’s share had already been harvested. Now the later crops were coming up.The locusts stripped the land clean. Then I cried out,“ Lord and King, forgive Israel! How can Jacob’s people continue? They are such a weak nation!”
