Exodus 9

1The LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says this: Release my people, so they can serve me. 2If you refuse to let them go and keep your grip on them, 3then the hand of the LORD will fall on your animals out in the fields, on your horses, donkeys, and camels, your cattle and your sheep, with a very severe disease. 4But the LORD will set Israel’s livestock apart from Egypt’s, and not one animal that belongs to the Israelites will die.’” 5The LORD fixed a time and said, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this in the land.” 6The LORD carried this out on the following day. Egypt’s livestock all died, but of the livestock of the Israelites not one animal was lost. 7Pharaoh sent men to look into it, and indeed not a single animal of Israel’s livestock had died. Yet Pharaoh stayed stubborn and did not release the people.

8The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Fill both your hands with soot from a kiln, and let Moses throw it up toward the sky in Pharaoh’s sight. 9It will turn into fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and all through the land it will become boils, bursting into blisters on people and on animals.” 10They took the kiln soot and went to stand in front of Pharaoh. When Moses threw it up toward the sky, it became boils, breaking out in blisters on people and animals alike. 11The boils kept the magicians from even appearing before Moses, for they had the boils, as did all the Egyptians. 12The LORD, however, hardened the heart of Pharaoh, who refused to listen to them, as the LORD had told Moses.

13The LORD said to Moses, “Be up early in the morning and take your stand in front of Pharaoh. Tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says this: Release my people, so they can serve me. 14For now I will aim all my plagues at your very heart, and at your officials and your people. Then you will learn that in the whole world there is none like me. 15I could already have raised my hand and struck you and your people with deadly disease, and you would have disappeared from the earth. 16But I have let you survive for this purpose: to show you my power and to have my name declared throughout the earth. 17Even now you raise yourself up against my people, refusing to release them. 18About this time tomorrow I will rain down hail so heavy that Egypt has seen nothing like it from the day the nation began until now. 19So now send word to get your livestock and everything you have out in the open under cover. Any person or animal still in the fields and not brought indoors will die when the hail falls on them.’” 20Among Pharaoh’s officials, those who feared the word of the LORD made their servants and their livestock run for the houses. 21Others gave no thought to the word of the LORD and left their servants and livestock out in the open.

22The LORD told Moses, “Raise your hand toward the sky so that hail comes down all over the land of Egypt, striking people, animals, and every green plant in Egypt’s fields.” 23Moses held his staff up toward the sky, and the LORD sent out peals of thunder and hail. Lightning streaked down to the earth while the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt. 24Hail fell, with lightning flaring through the middle of it. The hail was very heavy, worse than any the whole land of Egypt had known since it became a nation. 25All across the land of Egypt, whatever was out in the fields, human or animal, was struck by the hail. The hail flattened every plant in the fields and splintered every tree. 26Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was there no hail. 27Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned this time. The LORD is in the right, and the guilt lies with me and my people. 28Plead with the LORD. There has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will release you. You will stay here no longer.” 29Moses replied, “As soon as I am outside the city, I will spread my hands out toward the LORD. Then the thunder will end and the hail will be gone, and you will learn that the earth belongs to the LORD. 30But you and your officials, I know, have yet to fear the LORD God.” 31The flax and barley crops were lost, because the barley had already headed out and the flax had come into flower. 32The wheat and spelt escaped, since they are later crops. 33So Moses left Pharaoh and went outside the city, where he spread his hands out toward the LORD. The thunder and hail came to an end, and the rain stopped pouring onto the ground. 34Once Pharaoh saw that rain, hail, and thunder had all ceased, he went back to sinning: he hardened his heart, and so did his officials. 35Pharaoh remained stubborn and refused to release the Israelites. It was as the LORD had foretold through Moses.