Exodus 9

₁The Lord said to Moses: ‘Go to Pharaoh and tell him the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says he must let the Israelites go so that they can worship Me. ₂If he does not let them go and he holds them here, ₃then I will punish him and send a very bad disease to all of his animals in the field. His horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep and goats will all die. ₄But I will not do the same to the animals of the Israelites. Not one of their animals will die. ₅Tell him the Lord has decided when the disease will start. He has said it will be tomorrow.’

₆The Lord did it the next day. All the animals of the Egyptians died the next day, but not one of the Israelites' animals died. ₇Pharaoh sent some of his men to go and look and they saw that not one of the people of Israel's animals had died. But Pharaoh stayed stubborn. He did not let the Israelites go.

₈The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ‘Take a handful of ashes from an oven, and let Moses throw it up in the air where Pharaoh can see him doing it. ₉The ashes will change into dust and it will blow over the whole land of Egypt. It will make bad sores on the skins of people and animals, and the sores will burst open.’

₁₀Moses and Aaron took some ashes from an oven and they threw them up into the air in front of Pharaoh. When Moses did that, the ashes made sores on people and animals, and the sores burst open. ₁₁The magicians could not do the same as Moses because they were full of sores. There were sores on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.

₁₂But the Lord made Pharaoh stubborn so that he did not listen to Moses and Aaron, as the Lord had said to Moses.

₁₃Then the Lord said to Moses: ‘Get up early tomorrow morning and stand before Pharaoh. Tell him: This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go so that they can worship Me. ₁₄If you don't let the Israelites go, I will punish you, your officials and your people even more. Then you will know that there is no one like Me in the world. ₁₅I can make you sick, you and your people, and you will all die. ₁₆But I have made you king and let you live to show you my power so that all the people on earth will talk about my powerful name.

₁₇You think you rule over my people and you do not want to let them go. ₁₈At this time tomorrow I will send a very bad hail-storm. There has never been a hail-storm as bad as this, from the time that people started to live here to this day. ₁₉You must take your goats, other animals, and everything that is outside in the field to a safe place now. The hail-stones will fall on people and animals in the field and they will kill anyone who is outside.” ’

₂₀Some of Pharaoh's officials were afraid because of what the Lord had said. They quickly brought their slaves and animals from the fields into their homes and stables. ₂₁But other officials did not listen to the word of the Lord and left their slaves and animals in the field.

₂₂Then the Lord said to Moses: ‘Put your hand up in the air, then hail-stones will fall down all over Egypt, on all the people and animals and on all the plants in Egypt.’ ₂₃When Moses put his staff up in the air, the Lord sent thunder and hail-stones and lightning that came down to the ground. The Lord sent a very bad hail-storm over the land of Egypt. ₂₄The hail-stones fell down and there was lightning all around. It was the worst storm in the whole land of Egypt, from the time that people had started living there. ₂₅The hail-stones destroyed everything that was outside. They killed people and animals. The hail-stones destroyed all the plants in the fields and they broke down every tree. ₂₆But in the land of Goshen where the Israelites lived, there were no hail-stones.

₂₇Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and he said to them: ‘I now realise that I have made a big mistake. The Lord was right, and my people and I were wrong. ₂₈Please pray to the Lord. This very bad thunder and hail-storm has made us suffer a lot. I will let you go now. You don't have to stay any longer.’

₂₉Moses said to Pharaoh: ‘When I go out of the city, I will put my hands up to the Lord and I will pray. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail-stones. Then you will know that the earth belongs to the Lord. ₃₀But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord God.’

₃₁The hail-stones had destroyed the flax and barley because the barley had been ready for the people to harvest and the flax plants already had flowers. ₃₂But the different kinds of wheat were not destroyed because they were not yet ripe.

₃₃Moses went away from Pharaoh and when he went out of the city, he put his hands up to the Lord and he prayed. The thunder and the hail-stones stopped and the rain no longer came down on the land. ₃₄When Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail-stones and thunder had stopped, he did wrong again. He and his officials became stubborn again. They did not listen. ₃₅Pharaoh was stubborn, and he did not let the Israelites go. It happened as the Lord had said.