Exodus 9
1 And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao, and speak to him: Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to sacrifice to me.
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Go to the king and say to him, ‘This is what Yahweh, the God [we] Hebrews [worship], says: “Allow my people to go, in order that they may worship me.
2 But if thou refuse, and withhold them still:
If you still keep refusing to let them go [DOU],
3 Behold my hand shall be upon thy fields: and a very grievous murrain upon thy horses, and asses, and camels, and oxen, and sheep.
I warn you that I will punish you with my power [MTY] by sending a terrible disease on all your animals—on your horses, donkeys, camels, on your cattle, and on your flocks [of sheep and goats].
4 And the Lord will make a wonderful difference between the possessions of Israel and the possessions of the Egyptians, that nothing at all shall die of those things that belong to the children of Israel.
But I, Yahweh, will distinguish between [what I do to] the animals that belong to the Israeli people and [what I do to] your animals. The result will be that no animal that belongs to the Israeli people will die.”’
5 And the Lord appointed a time, saying: Tomorrow will the Lord do this thing in the land.
[Tell him that] I have determined/decided that tomorrow is the day that I will do this in this land.”
6 The Lord therefore did this thing the next day: and all the beasts of the Egyptians died, but of the beasts of the children of Israel there died not one.
The next day Yahweh did just what he said [that he would do]. A terrible disease afflicted all of the Egyptians’ animals, and many of them [HYP] died. But none of the Israeli people’s animals died.
7 And Pharao sent to see: and there was not any thing dead of that which Israel possessed. And Pharao’s heart was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
The king sent [men to investigate], and they were surprised [to see] that none of the Israeli people’s animals had died. But [after they reported that to] the king, he continued to be stubborn [IDM], and he did not let the [Israeli] people go.
8 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Take to you handfuls of ashes out of the chimney, and let Moses sprinkle it in the air in the presence of Pharao.
Then Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses/me, “Take a few handfuls of ashes/soot from (a furnace/an oven where they burn lime), and let Moses throw them up into the air, in front of the king.
9 And be there dust upon all the land of Egypt: for there shall be boils and swelling blains both in men and beasts in the whole land of Egypt.
The [ashes/soot] will spread all over the country of Egypt like fine dust. And the ashes/soot will cause boils to afflict both the Egyptian people and their animals, all over the land.”
10 And they took ashes out of the chimney, and stood before Pharao, and Moses sprinkled it in the air: and there came boils with swelling blains in men and beasts.
So they/we both got some ashes/soot and [went and] stood in front of the king. Moses/I threw the ashes/soot up into the air. The ashes/soot spread all over, causing boils to afflict the [Egyptian] people and their animals. All the boils became open sores.
11 Neither could the magicians stand before Moses for the boils that were upon them, and in all the land of Egypt.
Even the men who worked magic had boils. The result was that [they were suffering so much that] they were not able to come to Moses/me, because the men who worked magic had boils just like all [the rest of] the Egyptian people.
12 And the Lord hardened Pharao’s heart, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
But Yahweh caused the king to [continue to] be stubborn [IDM]. He did not pay any attention to what they/we [said], just as Yahweh had told Moses/me [would happen].
13 And the Lord said to Moses: Arise in the morning, and stand before Pharao, and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to sacrifice to me.
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Get up early [tomorrow] morning. Go and stand in front of the king and tell him that Yahweh God, the one that the Hebrew people [worship], says this: ‘Let my people go, in order that they may worship me [in the desert].
14 For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thy heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people: that thou mayst know there is none like me in all the earth.
[If you do not let them go], this time I will [punish] with plagues [not only] your officials and the rest of your people, but I will punish you yourself [SYN], in order that you will know there is no [god] like me anywhere in the world.
15 For now I will stretch out my hand to strike thee, and thy people with pestilence, and thou shalt perish from the earth.
By this time I could have used my power [MTY] to strike you and your people with terrible diseases that would have wiped you all from the earth.
16 And therefore have I raised thee, that I may shew my power in thee, and my name may be spoken of throughout all the earth.
But I have let you live. The reason I have let you live is to show you my power, with the result that [people] all over the earth [HYP] will know how great I [MTY] am.
17 Dost thou yet hold back my people: and wilt thou not let them go?
You are still acting proudly and refusing to let my people go.
18 Behold I will cause it to rain tomorrow at this same hour, an exceeding great hail: such as hath not been in Egypt from the day that it was founded, until this present time.
So listen [to this]: About this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall [in Egypt]. From the time Egypt first became [a country], there has never been a hailstorm [as bad as this one will be].
19 Send therefore now presently, and gather together thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field: for men and beasts, and all things that shall be found abroad, and not gathered together out of the fields, which the hail shall fall upon, shall die.
So you should send [a message to everyone] to put their cattle, and everything else that they own that is [out] in the fields, under shelters. The hail will fall on every person and every animal that is out in the fields and that is not put under a shelter, and they will all die.’” [So Moses/I did what Yahweh said].
20 He that feared the word of the Lord among Pharao’s servants, made his servants and his cattle flee into houses:
Some of the king’s officials who heard what Yahweh had said became very afraid. So they put all their animals and their slaves under shelters.
21 But he that regarded not the word of the Lord, left his servants and his cattle in the fields:
But those who did not pay any attention to what Yahweh had said left their slaves and their animals in the fields.
22 And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth thy hand towards heaven, that there may be hail in the whole land of Egypt, upon men, and upon beasts, and upon every herb of the field in the land of Egypt.
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Raise your hand up toward the sky, in order that hail will fall all over the land of Egypt—on the people and on their animals and on all the plants in the fields.”
23 And Moses stretched forth his rod towards heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning running along the ground: and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt.
So Moses/I lifted his/my stick up toward the sky. And Yahweh sent down hail, all over the land of Egypt. There was also thunder and lightning.
24 And the hail and fire mixed with it drove on together: and it was of so great bigness, as never before was seen in the whole land of Egypt since that nation was founded.
While very heavy hail was falling, there was thunder, and lightning struck the ground. There had never been a hailstorm like that since Egypt first became a country.
25 And the hail destroyed through all the land of Egypt all things that were in the fields, both man and beast: and the hail smote every herb of the field, and it broke every tree of the country.
The hail struck everything that was in the fields all over Egypt—every person and every animal. The hail destroyed the plants in the fields and stripped [the leaves off] the trees.
26 Only in the land of Gessen, where the children of Israel were, the hail fell not.
Only in the Goshen region, where the Israeli people were [living], was there no hail.
27 And Pharao sent and called Moses and Aaron, saying to them: I have sinned this time also; the Lord is just: I and my people are wicked.
Then the king sent [someone] to summon Aaron and Moses/me. [When they/we came to the king], he said to them/us, “This time [I admit that] I have sinned. What Yahweh [has done] is right, and what I and my people [have done] is wrong.
28 Pray ye to the Lord, that the thunderings of God and the hail may cease: that I may let you go, and that you may stay here no longer.
(Pray to/Plead with) Yahweh [to cause it to stop]! [We] cannot [endure any more] of this thunder and hail! I will let your people go; they do not have to stay [here in Egypt] any longer.”
29 Moses said: As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will stretch forth my hands to the Lord, and the thunders shall cease, and the hail shall be no more: that thou mayst know that the earth is the Lord’s.
Moses/I replied, “As soon as I go out of this city, I will lift up my hands [and pray] to Yahweh. Then the thunder will cease, and no more hail [will fall]. [This will happen] in order that you will know that Yahweh, [not your gods], controls everything [that happens] on the earth.
30 But I know that neither thou, nor thy servants do yet fear the Lord God.
But as for you and your officials, I know that you do not yet fear Yahweh God.”
31 The flax therefore and the barley were hurt, because the barley was green, and the flax was now boiled:
When the hail fell, the flax was ruined because the buds were forming, and the barley was ruined because its grain was ripe.
32 But the wheat, and other winter corn were not hurt, because they were lateward.
But none of the wheat crops was ruined, because their shoots were still very small.
33 And when Moses was gone from Pharao out of the city, he stretched forth his hands to the Lord: and the thunders and the hail ceased, neither did there drop any more rain upon the earth.
So Moses/I left the king and went outside the city. He/I lifted up his/my hands toward Yahweh [and prayed]. Then the thunder and the hail stopped, and the rain also stopped falling on the land [of Egypt].
34 And Pharao seeing that the rain and the hail, and the thunders were ceased, increased his sin.
But when the king saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had stopped, he sinned again. He and his officials continued to be stubborn [IDM].
35 And his heart was hardened, and the heart of his servants, and it was made exceeding hard: neither did he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses.
So, just as Yahweh had predicted by what he told Moses/me, the king did not allow the Israeli people to leave.
