Exodus 9
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may give me worship.
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says this: “Let my people go so that they may worship me.”
2 For if you will not let them go, but still keep them in your power,
But if you refuse to let them go, if you still keep them back,
3 Then the hand of the Lord will put on your cattle in the field, on the horses and the asses and the camels, on the herds and the flocks, a very evil disease.
then Yahweh's hand will be on your cattle in the fields and on the horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks, and it will cause a terrible disease.
4 And the Lord will make a division between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt; there will be no loss of any of the cattle of Israel.
Yahweh will treat Israel's cattle and Egypt's cattle differently and no animal that belongs to the Israelites will die.
5 And the time was fixed by the Lord, and he said, Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.
Yahweh has fixed a time; he has said, “It is tomorrow that I will do this thing in the land.”'”
6 And on the day after, the Lord did as he had said, causing the death of all the cattle of Egypt, but there was no loss of any of the cattle of Israel.
Yahweh did this the next day: All the cattle of Egypt died, but none of the Israelites' animals died, not one animal.
7 And Pharaoh sent and got word that there was no loss of any of the cattle of Israel. But the heart of Pharaoh was hard and he did not let the people go.
Pharaoh investigated, and, behold, not even one animal of the Israelites died. But his heart was stubborn, so he did not let the people go.
8 And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, Take in your hand a little dust from the fire and let Moses send it in a shower up to heaven before the eyes of Pharaoh.
Then Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron, “Take some handfuls of ashes from a kiln. You, Moses, must throw the ashes up into the air while Pharaoh is watching.
9 And it will become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and will be a skin-disease bursting out in wounds on man and beast through all the land of Egypt.
They will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt. They will cause blisters and sores to break out on people and animals throughout all the land of Egypt.”
10 So they took some dust from the fire, and placing themselves before Pharaoh, Moses sent it out in a shower up to heaven; and it became a skin-disease bursting out on man and on beast.
So Moses and Aaron took ashes from a kiln and stood in front of Pharaoh. Then Moses threw the ashes up into the air. The ashes caused blisters and sores to break out on people and animals.
11 And the wonder-workers were not able to take their places before Moses, because of the disease; for the disease was on the wonder-workers and on all the Egyptians.
The magicians could not resist Moses because of the blisters, because the blisters were on them and on all the other Egyptians.
12 And the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he would not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.
Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, so Pharaoh did not listen to Moses and Aaron. This was just as Yahweh had said to Moses that Pharaoh would do.
13 And the Lord said to Moses, Get up early in the morning and take your place before Pharaoh, and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may give me worship.
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand in front of Pharaoh, and say to him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says this: “Let my people go so that they may worship me.
14 For this time I will send all my punishments on yourself and on your servants and on your people; so that you may see that there is no other like me in all the earth.
For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, on your servants and your people. I will do this so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.
15 For if I had put the full weight of my hand on you and your people, you would have been cut off from the earth:
By now I could have reached out with my hand and attacked you and your people with disease, and you would have been eradicated from the land.
16 But, for this very reason, I have kept you from destruction, to make clear to you my power, and so that my name may be honoured through all the earth.
But it was for this reason I allowed you to survive: In order to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed throughout all the earth.
17 Are you still uplifted in pride against my people so that you will not let them go?
You are still lifting yourself up against my people by not letting them go.
18 Truly, tomorrow about this time I will send down an ice-storm, such as never was in Egypt from its earliest days till now.
Listen! Tomorrow about this time I will bring a very strong hail storm, such as has not been seen in Egypt since the day it was begun until now.
19 Then send quickly and get in your cattle and all you have from the fields; for if any man or beast in the field has not been put under cover, the ice-storm will come down on them with destruction.
Now then, send men and gather your cattle and everything you have in the fields to a safe place. Every man and animal that is in the field and is not brought home—the hail will come down on them, and they will die.”'”
20 Then everyone among the servants of Pharaoh who had the fear of the Lord, made his servants and his cattle come quickly into the house:
Then those of Pharaoh's servants who believed in Yahweh's message hurried to bring their slaves and cattle into the houses.
21 And he who gave no attention to the word of the Lord, kept his servants and his cattle in the field.
But those who did not take Yahweh's message seriously left their slaves and cattle in the fields.
22 And the Lord said to Moses, Now let your hand be stretched out to heaven so that there may be an ice-storm on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every plant of the field through all the land of Egypt.
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Reach out with your hand toward the sky so that there will be hail in all the land of Egypt, on people, on animals, and on all the plants in the fields throughout the land of Egypt.”
23 And Moses put out his rod to heaven: and the Lord sent thunder, and an ice-storm, and fire running down on the earth; the Lord sent an ice-storm on the land of Egypt.
Moses reached out with his staff toward the sky, and Yahweh sent thunder, hail, and lightning to the ground. He also rained hail on the land of Egypt.
24 So there was an ice-storm with fire running through it, coming down with great force, such as never was in all the land of Egypt from the time when it became a nation.
So there were hail and lightning mixed with hail, very severe, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
25 And through all the land of Egypt the ice-storm came down on everything which was in the fields, on man and on beast; and every green plant was crushed and every tree of the field broken.
Throughout all the land of Egypt, the hail struck everything in the fields, both people and animals. It struck every plant in the fields and broke every tree.
26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no ice-storm.
Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was there no hail.
27 Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have done evil this time: the Lord is upright, and I and my people are sinners.
Then Pharaoh sent men to summon Moses and Aaron. He said to them, “I have sinned this time. Yahweh is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
28 Make prayer to the Lord; for there has been enough of these thunderings of God and this ice-storm; and I will let you go and will keep you no longer.
Pray to Yahweh, because the mighty thunderbolts and hail are too much. I will let you go, and you will stay here no longer.”
29 And Moses said, When I am gone outside the town, my hands will be stretched out to the Lord; the thunders and the ice-storm will come to an end, so that you may see that the earth is the Lord's.
Moses said to him, “As soon as I leave the city, I will spread my hands out to Yahweh. The thunder will stop, and there will not be any more hail. In this way you will know that the earth belongs to Yahweh.
30 But as for you and your servants, I am certain that even now the fear of the Lord God will not be in your hearts.
But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet really honor Yahweh God.”
31 And the flax and the barley were damaged, for the barley was almost ready to be cut and the flax was in flower.
Now the flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was maturing in the ear, and the flax was in bloom.
32 But the rest of the grain-plants were undamaged, for they had not come up.
But the wheat and the spelt were not harmed because they were later crops.
33 So Moses went out of the town, and stretching out his hands made prayer to God: and the thunders and the ice-storm came to an end; and the fall of rain was stopped.
When Moses had left Pharaoh and the city, he spread out his hands to Yahweh; the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain came down no more.
34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the ice-storm and the thunders were ended, he went on sinning, and made his heart hard, he and his servants.
When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, together with his servants.
35 And the heart of Pharaoh was hard, and he did not let the people go, as the Lord had said by the mouth of Moses.
Pharaoh's heart was hardened, so he did not let the people of Israel go. This was the way that Yahweh had said to Moses that Pharaoh would act.
