Exodus 10:1-11
Tell Your Children What I Have Done
1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials, that I may perform these miraculous signs of Mine among them,
2and that you may tell your children and grandchildren how severely I dealt with the Egyptians when I performed miraculous signs among them, so that all of you may know that I am the LORD.”
3So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.
4But if you refuse to let My people go, I will bring locusts into your territory tomorrow.
5They will cover the face of the land so that no one can see it. They will devour whatever is left after the hail and eat every tree that grows in your fields.
6They will fill your houses and the houses of all your officials and every Egyptian—something neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since the day they came into this land.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh’s presence.
7Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt lies in ruins?”
8So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the LORD your God,” he said. “But who exactly will be going?”
9“We will go with our young and old,” Moses replied. “We will go with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”
10Then Pharaoh told them, “May the LORD be with you if I ever let you go with your little ones. Clearly you are bent on evil.
11No, only the men may go and worship the LORD, since that is what you have been requesting.” And Moses and Aaron were driven from Pharaoh’s presence.
Berean Standard Bible
The locusts and darkness make resistance costly, while parents are told to remember aloud.
Do not turn the people in the scene into cardboard heroes or villains. Exodus shows fear, courage, impatience, violence, complaint, worship, and mercy close together. We can name what is wrong without pretending that our own household is above the same need for correction.
Write one sentence the household wants to remember and place it somewhere it will be seen again. Memory in Exodus is meant to guide the next act of obedience.
Let the final response be measured by faithfulness, not by how impressive it sounds. Let the family keep one clear thread from “Tell Your Children What I Have Done” in view during the week, and return to it when circumstances make faith feel less tidy than it sounded at the table.
Questions
1 What is happening in this reading?
AnswerThe locusts and darkness make resistance costly, while parents are told to remember aloud. It invites the family to see what the people fear, choose, and learn as the scene moves rather than reducing the unit to a single inspirational sentence.
2 What should we notice?
AnswerNotice the words, actions, relationships, and limits in the reading. Ask who speaks, who acts, who is vulnerable, and who is accountable. The concrete details around “Tell Your Children What I Have Done” are part of the meaning, not background decoration.
3 What response does it invite?
AnswerIt invites honest attention and responsible trust. The household does not need to copy every action described. It can receive the warning, promise, command, or example that is actually present and ask how faithfulness would look at home.
4 What could a family practice?
AnswerA family could say what you want to remember when the next difficult day makes the reading feel less immediate. Explain why that practice belongs to “Tell Your Children What I Have Done,” rather than treating the reading as a general prompt to be nicer. Keep the response concrete enough to recognize when it has been done.
What This Means for Us
“Tell Your Children What I Have Done” gives the household a clear place to notice fear, courage, complaint, and mercy. The text does not ask us to pretend that the pressure, cost, or unfinished work is absent.
Ask where this reading touches your household's use of power, memory, speech, work, worship, or care for people who depend on you. Keep the question close to home. Do not use Exodus as a quick verdict on another person's faith while avoiding the responsibility it places in front of you.
Choose one truthful response for the week. It may be a prayer, a repair, a shared task, a boundary, an act of welcome, or a remembered promise. Let it be concrete enough that the family can recognize it when it has been done.
Prayer
We pray: Holy God, keep us from turning this reading into a weapon or a performance. Give us attentive hearts, steady hands, and mercy for the people at our table. Help us obey the next thing You make clear. Amen.