12 Then the Lord said to Moses, ^b“Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and ^ceat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.” 13 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. 14 ^dThe locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, ^esuch a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. 15 They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and ^fthey ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

3 Then from the smoke came ^vlocusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told ^wnot to harm ^xthe grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have ^ythe seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were allowed to torment them ^zfor five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 And in those days ^apeople will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

7 ^bIn appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: ^con their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were ^dlike human faces, 8 their hair like women’s hair, and ^etheir teeth like lions’ teeth; 9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was ^flike the noise of many chariots with ^ghorses rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people ^hfor five months is in their tails.