¹⁸ Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

²³ Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the ^(A)Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

¹⁸ So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, ^(A)and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

¹⁹ And all the people said to Samuel, ^(B)“Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.”

⁹ Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. And all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the ^(A)heavy rain.