Adverts
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him that this is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may serve me.
2 If you still don't want to let him go and continue to stop him,
3 know that the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on Pharaoh's flocks that are in the fields: the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the oxen and the sheep.
Adverts
4 But the Lord will distinguish between the flocks of Israel and those of Egypt. No animal of the Israelites will die.”
5 The Lord set a deadline: “Tomorrow the Lord will do what he promised in this land.”
6 The next day the Lord did so. All the Egyptians' livestock died, but none of the Israelites' livestock died.
7 Pharaoh ordered a check and found that none of the Israelites' animals had died. Even so, his heart remained obstinate and did not let the people go.
8 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take a handful of ashes from a furnace, and Moses will scatter it in the air before Pharaoh.
9 It will become like fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and festering sores will appear on men and animals throughout all Egypt.”
10 They took ashes from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses spread it through the air, and festering sores began to break out on men and animals.
11 Not even the magicians could stand before Moses, because they were covered with wounds, like the other Egyptians.
12 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron, as the Lord had said to Moses.
13 The Lord said to Moses, “Get up early and go before Pharaoh and tell him that this is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may serve me.
14 Otherwise, I will send all my plagues against you this time, against your counselors and against your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.
15 Because I could have already reached out, smiting you and your people with a plague that would have eliminated you from the land.
16 But I kept him standing for this very purpose: to show him my power and to cause my name to be proclaimed in all the earth.
17 Yet you still insist on standing against my people and won't let them go.
18 Tomorrow, at this time, I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day of its foundation until today.
19 Now, order your flocks and everything you have in the fields to be collected. All men and animals in the fields, who have not been sheltered, will be hit by the hail and will die.”
20 Pharaoh's advisors, who feared the word of the Lord, hurried to gather their flocks and slaves into shelter.
21 But those who did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left their slaves and their flocks in the field.
22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and hail will fall on all the land of Egypt: on people, on animals, and on all the vegetation of Egypt.”
23 When Moses stretched out his rod toward the sky, the Lord caused thunder and hail, and lightning fell to the earth. So the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt.
24 Hail fell, and lightning streaked across the sky in all directions. There had never been a hailstorm like that in all of Egypt since it became a nation.
25 Throughout Egypt the hail hit everything in the fields, both men and animals; destroyed all the vegetation, in addition to breaking all the trees.
26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, did no hail fall.
27 Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned. The Lord is just; I and my people are the ones to blame.
28 Pray to the Lord! God's thunder and hail are already too much. I will let them go; You don’t need to stay here anymore.”
29 Moses replied, “As soon as I leave the city, I will raise my hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will cease and hail will no longer fall, so that you will know that the land belongs to the Lord.
30 But I know very well that you and your advisors still don't know what it is to tremble before the Lord God! “
31 (The flax and barley were destroyed, as the barley had already ripened and the flax was in flower.
32 However, wheat and rye did not suffer, as they only matured later. )
33 So Moses left Pharaoh, left the city, and raised his hands to the Lord. The thunder and hail stopped, and the rain stopped.
34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again and became obstinate in his heart, he and his advisors.
35 Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he did not let the Israelites leave, as the Lord had said through Moses.
