Exodus 9
1 The LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and speak to him: ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: «Let my people go, so they may serve me.
2 For if you refuse to let them go and keep holding them back, know this:
3 The hand of the LORD will strike your livestock in the fields—the horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, and sheep—with a very severe plague.
4 The LORD will distinguish between Israel’s livestock and Egypt’s livestock, and not one of the Israelites’ animals will die.»’”
5 The LORD set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this in the land.”
6 The next day the LORD did it: all the Egyptians’ livestock died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died.
7 Pharaoh sent someone to check, and not one of Israel’s livestock had died. But Pharaoh’s heart remained stubborn, and he did not let the people go.
8 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a furnace, and have Moses toss it into the air in Pharaoh’s sight.
9 It will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and it will break out into festering boils on people and animals throughout the land of Egypt.”
10 They took soot from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses tossed it into the air. Festering boils broke out on people and animals.
11 The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.
12 But the LORD made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had told Moses.
13 The LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and say to him: ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: «Let my people go, so they may serve me.
14 For this time I will send all my plagues against your heart, your servants, and your people, so that you may know there is no one like me in all the earth.
15 By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been wiped from the earth.
16 But I have kept you standing for this very purpose: to show you my power and to make my name known throughout the earth.
17 You are still setting yourself against my people and refusing to let them go.
18 Look, tomorrow at this time I will rain down very heavy hail, such as has never been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.
19 So now, have your livestock and everything you own in the fields brought to safety. The hail will fall on every person and animal found in the fields and not brought indoors, and they will die.»’”
20 Among Pharaoh’s servants, whoever feared the word of the LORD hurried his servants and livestock into the houses.
21 But whoever paid no attention to the word of the LORD left his servants and livestock in the fields.
22 The LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, and hail will fall throughout the land of Egypt, on people, animals, and every plant in the fields of Egypt.”
23 Moses stretched his staff toward the sky, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, while fire flashed down to the ground. The LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt.
24 There was hail, and fire flashed amid the hail. It was so severe that nothing like it had ever occurred throughout Egypt since it became a nation.
25 Throughout the land of Egypt, the hail struck everything in the fields, from people to animals. It struck every plant in the fields and shattered every tree.
26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was there no hail.
27 Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned. The LORD is in the right; I and my people are in the wrong.
28 Plead with the LORD. We have had enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you will stay here no longer.”
29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I leave the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will stop, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the LORD.
30 But I know that you and your servants still do not fear the LORD God.”
31 The flax and the barley were struck, because the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bloom.
32 But the wheat and spelt were not struck, because they ripen later.
33 Moses left Pharaoh and the city, and spread out his hands to the LORD. The thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer fell on the land.
34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had stopped, he sinned again and made his heart stubborn, he and his servants.
35 Pharaoh’s heart remained stubborn, and he did not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.
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