5: Death of animals

9 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “The Lord, the God of the Israelites says this: Let my people go so that they may worship me. ² If you refuse to let them go, you will have more trouble. If you still keep them in Egypt, ³ the Lord will punish you. He will send a very bad illness on all your animals. Your animals in the fields, your horses, donkeys, camels, cows, sheep and goats will all become very ill. ⁴ But the Lord will make a difference between the animals of the Israelites and the animals of the Egyptians. None of the animals of the Israelites will die.” ’

⁵ The Lord decided when this would happen. He said, ‘Tomorrow I will make this happen in the land of Egypt.’ ⁶ So on the next day, the Lord did it! All the animals of the Egyptians died. But not one of the animals of the Israelites died. ⁷ Pharaoh sent his men to see what had happened. They saw that not one of the animals of the Israelites was dead! But Pharaoh's mind was still hard. He did not let the people go.

6: Boils

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Take in your hands some ashes from an oven. Throw them up in the air as Pharaoh watches. ⁹ They will become very small dust over the whole country of Egypt. The dust will cause boils to appear on the skin of people and animals. It will happen all over Egypt.’

¹⁰ So they took ashes from an oven and they stood in front of Pharaoh. Moses threw the ashes up in the air. Then bad boils appeared on both people and animals. ¹¹ All the Egyptians had boils, even the magicians. Because of the boils, the magicians could not stand in front of Moses. ¹² But Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. The Lord caused Pharaoh's mind to be hard. The Lord had told Moses that this would happen, and it did!

7: Hail

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and go to Pharaoh. Say to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Israelites says: Let my people go to worship me. ¹⁴ This time, I will send all my troubles to punish you. I will send them against you, your officers and your people. I want you to know that there is nobody as great as me in the whole earth. That is why I am doing this. ¹⁵ Already I could have used my power to destroy you and your people. With one very bad trouble, I could have removed you from the earth. ¹⁶ But I have let you live, to show you my power. Then people all over the world will know how great I am. ¹⁷ You are still too proud to let my people go.

¹⁸ Look! Tomorrow at this time, I will send a very great storm of hail. Nobody has ever seen hail fall like this in Egypt before now. From Egypt's first day as a country until today, nobody has seen a storm like this. ¹⁹ Now send your servants out to tell this message to your people. You must bring into your houses all your animals from the fields to be safe. The hail will fall on every person and on every animal that is still outside. They will all die.” ’

²⁰ Some of Pharaoh's officers were afraid of what the Lord said he would do. So they quickly brought their servants and animals inside their houses. ²¹ But others did not believe the Lord's message. They left their servants and animals outside in the fields.

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Lift up your hand towards the sky. Then hail will fall over all the country of Egypt. It will fall on people and on animals. It will fall on all the plants that grow in the fields of Egypt.’

²³ When Moses lifted up his stick towards the sky, the Lord sent a great storm. He sent thunder, hail and lightning. ²⁴ The hail fell and there was lightning like fire. It was the worst storm anywhere in Egypt since Egypt had become a nation. ²⁵ Everywhere in Egypt, the hail knocked down everything that was in the fields. It knocked down both people and animals. It knocked down all the plants in the fields and it broke all the trees. ²⁶ But no hail fell in the region of Goshen, where the Israelites lived.

²⁷ Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron to come to him. He said to them, ‘This time, I have done a bad thing. The Lord is right. I and my people are guilty. ²⁸ The storms with the thunder and the hail are too much for us! Pray to the Lord to take them away. Then I will let you go! You do not need to stay any longer in Egypt.’

²⁹ Then Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘As soon as I leave the city, I will lift my hands to the Lord and I will pray to him. The storm will stop and there will be no more hail. Then you will know that the whole world belongs to the Lord. ³⁰ But I know you and your officers. You still do not respect the Lord God.’^[a]

³¹ At that time, the barley was ripe in the fields and the flax was nearly ripe. So the storm of hail destroyed the flax and the barley. ³² But the hail did not destroy the wheat and other grains. Those crops become ripe later in the year.^[b]

³³ Then Moses left Pharaoh and he went out of the city. He lifted up his hands to the Lord and he prayed. Then the storms and the hail stopped. The heavy rain stopped falling on the earth.

³⁴ Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the storms had stopped. So he did a bad thing again. His mind and his officers' minds became hard. ³⁵ Pharaoh still refused to obey God. He did not let the Israelites go. The Lord had told Moses that this would happen, and it did!