1 Then the LORD told Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: "Let my people go, so that they may serve me.
2 If you refuse to let them go and keep holding on to them,
3 the hand of the LORD will come with a very heavy plague on your livestock out in the field: on the horses, donkeys and camels, on the cattle and the flocks.
4 But the LORD will set the livestock of Israel apart from the livestock of Egypt, and not one animal belonging to the children of Israel will die."'"
5 The LORD fixed a time and said, "Tomorrow the LORD will do this in the land."
6 And on the next day the LORD did it. All the livestock of Egypt died, but not one animal of the children of Israel died.
7 Pharaoh sent men to check, and not a single animal of Israel's livestock had died. Yet Pharaoh's heart was stubborn, and he would 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 as Pharaoh watches.
9 It will become a fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and on people and animals all over the land of Egypt it will cause boils that break out into sores."
10 So they took soot from a furnace and stood in front of Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and boils broke out into sores on people and animals.
11 The magicians could not even stand in front of Moses because of the boils, for the boils had come on the magicians as on all the Egyptians.
12 But the LORD made Pharaoh's heart hard, 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, present yourself to Pharaoh and tell him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: "Let my people go, so that they may serve me.
14 This time I am sending the full force of my plagues on you yourself, on your servants and on your people, so that you will know that there is no one like me anywhere on earth.
15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with plague, and you would have been wiped off the earth.
16 But this is the very reason I have let you stand: to show you my power, and so that my name will be proclaimed throughout the earth.
17 You are still setting yourself up against my people and will not let them go.
18 So at this time tomorrow I will send down a hailstorm, a very heavy one, unlike any Egypt has seen from the day it was founded until now.
19 Now send word to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field under shelter. Every person and animal caught in the field and not brought inside will die when the hail falls on them."'"
20 Those of Pharaoh's servants who feared the word of the LORD hurried their servants and livestock indoors,
21 but those who paid no attention to the word of the LORD left their servants and livestock out in the field.
22 The LORD said to Moses, "Stretch your hand toward the sky, and hail will fall on the whole land of Egypt, on people and animals and on every plant of the field in the land of Egypt."
23 When Moses stretched his staff toward the sky, the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire struck down to the ground. So the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt.
24 The hail fell, with fire flashing back and forth through it. It was very heavy, worse than any in the whole land of Egypt since it had become a nation.
25 Over all the land of Egypt the hail struck everything in the open, people and animals alike; it beat down every plant of the field and splintered every tree.
26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel lived, was there no hail.
27 Pharaoh then summoned Moses and Aaron. "This time I have sinned," he told them. "The LORD is in the right, and my people and I are in the wrong.
28 Pray to the LORD; we have had enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go; you will not have to stay any longer."
29 Moses answered him, "When I have left 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 will 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 barley were destroyed, since the barley had headed and the flax was in bloom.
32 The wheat and spelt, however, were not destroyed, because they ripen later.)
33 Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city and spread out his hands to the LORD. The thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the earth.
34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: he and his servants made their hearts stubborn.
35 So Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he did not let the children of Israel go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.