1 AND the LORD said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, [ The Lord has plead with the Pharaoh through Moses to let his people go. The Pharaoh has always answered no. So now the Lord has one final plague for the Pharaoh. ] and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether.

2 Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold. [ God tells Moses to tell the people to go borrow all of the silver and gold that you can from your neighbors, because when the next plague strikes the Egyptians will want you to go so bad that they will give you what you have borrowed. So basically the Lord is saying you're not going to go out of Egypt without some wealth. They'll be glad to give you the resources that they have just to get you out of their midst. the word borrow in verse two with some amusement, because what the Lord really says is you go ask. It's even stronger than ask, I think, the context. You tell your Egyptian neighbors that you want this and this and this. And so borrow is kind of a euphemism there because they certainly aren't going to return anything. ]

3 And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people. [ Moses is now regarded with respect and honored among the Egyptian people themselves. ]

4 And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: [ Notice that when it comes to the death of the first born, it's God himself who's acting. He may employ an agent such as a devourer or a destroyer, but it's God himself who takes this upon himself because we are his children and he does not want to leave that, the taking of life, to Moses or to any of his other servants. And so he's the one that's behind this. ]

5 And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, [ This ultimate disaster includes everybody from the high born to the low. The first born of every class of people is affected by this last and great plague. And here we begin to see the symbolism of another first born who would die some 1300 years later or 1250 years later in the person of Jesus Christ. ] from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.

6 And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.

7 But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. [ The reason why God is doing this is to fulfill his covenant with the children of Israel. That covenant cannot be fulfilled while they are not able to worship God as he wants. He needs them to be free in order to do that. He has plead with the Pharaoh but to no avail. Can you imagine how hard this must have been for the Lord to do, he loves all of his children, but it also was done to show how important a covenant is with the Lord. God needs to restore his ordinances with his people if they are to move closer to him and that cannot be done while they are slaves in Egypt. Remember it was not long ago that when Pharaoh tried to kill all of the Israelite boys. It's almost like so long ago, he chose this last plague, that the answer is fitting for how far they were willing to go to stop Jehovah. When the wicked rule, the righteous mourn. And that's what we see here. ]

8 And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger.

9 And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall not hearken [ Hebrew "Shema" is translated here as hearken which means to "listen" and "obey". ] unto you; that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.

10 And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.