Anyone who has watched a locust swarm arrive over farmland, in Rajasthan or Gujarat or elsewhere, knows the sound and the dread. The sky darkens, the fields disappear under moving insects, and by evening there is nothing green left. Exodus 10 describes that, and then something even stranger: a darkness so thick that people cannot see each other for three days. By now even Pharaoh's advisers are pleading with him to give in. He keeps negotiating, trying to keep something back, until the conversation ends with a threat of death and a door slammed shut.
Where it sits in the story: Chapter 10 brings the plagues to the edge of their climax. It also names the reason these stories must be remembered: so that Israel can tell its children and grandchildren what God did in Egypt. That instruction shapes the Passover retelling in Jewish homes to this day. After the darkness there is only one plague left, and Pharaoh's last words to Moses set up the night of Passover.
What this chapter is doing: To bring Egypt to the point of collapse, to expose Pharaoh's refusal to let Israel go on God's terms, and to anchor the whole story in memory: these events are to be retold from one generation to the next.
- 10:1–6 — God tells Moses the plagues are also for Israel's children and grandchildren, so they will know the LORD. Moses warns Pharaoh of locusts worse than any his ancestors have seen, then turns and leaves.
- 10:7–11 — Pharaoh's officials beg him: let the men go; do you not see that Egypt is ruined? Pharaoh calls Moses back, but when he hears that everyone, young and old, flocks and herds, must go, he offers the men only and drives Moses out.
- 10:12–20 — An east wind brings locusts that cover the ground and eat everything the hail left. Pharaoh hurriedly confesses and asks for prayer; a strong west wind drives the locusts into the Red Sea (yam suph). Pharaoh's heart is hardened again.
- 10:21–29 — Darkness that can be felt covers Egypt for three days, but the Israelites have light where they live. Pharaoh offers to let the people go without their animals. Moses refuses: they need them for worship. Pharaoh warns him never to appear again, and Moses agrees.
Key verse: Exodus 10:2 · So what: Pharaoh keeps trying to obey partly: the men but not the families, the people but not the animals. It is a picture of wanting to keep control while appearing to give way. The chapter also shows why the story is told at all: so that children will know. Faith in Exodus is passed down in stories told at home.