¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Extend your staff and strike the dust of the ground, and it will become ²  gnats ³  throughout all the land of Egypt.’”

He produced manuals on botany, describing every kind of plant, ¹  from the cedars of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows on walls. He also produced manuals on biology, describing ²  animals, birds, insects, and fish.

Your courtiers ¹  are like locusts, your officials ²  are like a swarm of locusts! They encamp in the walls on a cold day, yet when the sun rises, they ³  fly away; ⁴  and no one knows where they ⁵  are. ⁶ 

But on that day I will mark off ¹  the land of Goshen, where my people are staying, ²  so that no swarms of flies will be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of this land. ³ 

Moses said, “I am going to go out ¹  from you and pray to the Lord, and the swarms of flies will go away from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow. Only do not let Pharaoh deal falsely again ²  by not releasing ³  the people to sacrifice to the Lord.”

Look up at the sky! Look at the earth below! For the sky will dissipate ¹  like smoke, and the earth will wear out like clothes; its residents will die like gnats. But the deliverance I give ²  is permanent; the vindication I provide ³  will not disappear. ⁴