The Fifth Plague: Death of Livestock

1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him: This is what •Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. 2But if you refuse to let them go and keep holding them, 3then the LORD’s hand will bring a severe plague against your livestock in the field — the horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks. 4But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that the Israelites own will die.” 5And the LORD set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this thing in the land.”a 6The LORD did this the next day. All the Egyptian livestock died,b but none among the Israelite livestock died. 7Pharaoh sent messengers who saw that not a single one of the Israelite livestock was dead. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened,c and he did not let the people go.

The Sixth Plague: Boils

8Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of furnace soot, and Moses is to throw it toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. 9It will become fine dust over the entire land of Egypt. It will become festering boilsd on man and beast throughout the land of Egypt.” 10So they took furnace soot and stood before Pharaoh. Moses threw it toward heaven, and it became festering boils on man and beast. 11The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians as well as on all the Egyptians.e 12But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heartf and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had told Moses.

The Seventh Plague: Hail

13Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh. Tell him: This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. 14Otherwise, I am going to send all My plagues against you,g your officials, and your people. Then you will know there is no one like Me in all the earth. 15By now I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been obliterated from the earth.h 16However, I have let you live for this purpose: to show you My poweri and to make My name known in all the earth. 17You are still acting arrogantly againstj My people by not letting them go. 18Tomorrow at this time I will rain down the worst hailk that has ever occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 19Therefore give orders to bring your livestock and all that you have in the field into shelters. Every person and animal that is in the field and not brought inside will die when the hail falls on them.” 20Those among Pharaoh’s officials who •feared the word of the LORD made their servants and livestock flee to shelters, 21but those who didn’t take the LORD’s word seriously left their servants and livestock in the field.

22Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven and let there be hail throughout the land of Egypt — on man and beast and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt.” 23So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail.l Lightning struck the earth, and the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt. 24The hail, with lightning flashing through it, was so severe that nothing like it had occurred in the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. 25Throughout the land of Egypt, the hail struck down everything in the field, both man and beast. The hail beat down every plant of the field and shattered every tree in the field. 26The only place it didn’t hail was in the land of Goshen where the Israelites were.m

27Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. “I have sinned this time,” he said to them. “Yahweh is the Righteousn One, and I and my people are the •guilty ones. 28Make an appeal to Yahweh. There has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go;o you don’t need to stay any longer.”

29Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will extend my handsp to Yahweh. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know the earthq belongs to Yahweh. 30But as for you and your officials, I know that you still do not fear Yahweh our God.”

31The flax and the barley were destroyed because the barley was riper and the flax was budding,s 32but the wheat and the spelt were not destroyed since they are later crops.t

33Moses went out from Pharaoh and the city, and extended his hands to the LORD. Then the thunder and hail ceased, and rain no longer poured down on the land. 34When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his officials. 35So Pharaoh’s heart hardened, and he did not let the Israelites go, as the LORD had said through Moses.