The Seventh Plague: Hail

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(A)“Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. ¹⁴ For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself,^[a] and on your servants and your people, so ^(B)that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. ¹⁵ For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. ^16 (C)But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so ^(D)that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. ^17 (E)You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. 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. ¹⁹ Now therefore send, ^(F)get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.”’” ²⁰ Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, ²¹ but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field.

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be ^(G)hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant of the field, in the land of Egypt.” ²³ Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the ^(H)Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. ²⁴ There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. ²⁵ The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail ^(I)struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. ^26 (J)Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.

²⁷ Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time ^(K)I have sinned; the ^(L)Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. ^28 (M)Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” ²⁹ Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, ^(N)I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that ^(O)the earth is the Lord's. ³⁰ But as for you and your servants, ^(P)I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” ³¹ (The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. ³² But the wheat and the emmer^[b] were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.) ³³ So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and ^(Q)stretched out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. ³⁴ But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and ^(R)hardened his heart, ^(S)he and his servants. ³⁵ So ^(T)the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.

The Philistines Reject David

29 ^(A)Now the Philistines had gathered all their forces at ^(B)Aphek. And the Israelites were encamped by ^(C)the spring that is in ^(D)Jezreel. ² As ^(E)the lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were passing on in the rear ^(F)with Achish, ³ the commanders of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me ^(G)now for days and years, and since he deserted to me ^(H)I have found no fault in him to this day.” ⁴ But ^(I)the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back, that he may return ^(J)to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, ^(K)lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here? ⁵ Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances,

⁶ Then Achish called David and said to him, ^(M)“As the Lord lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that ^(N)you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you. ⁷ So go back now; and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.” ⁸ And David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” ⁹ And Achish answered David and said, “I know that you are as blameless in my sight ^(O)as an angel of God. Nevertheless, ^(P)the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’ ¹⁰ Now then rise early in the morning ^(Q)with the servants of your lord who came with you, and start early in the morning, and depart as soon as you have light.” ¹¹ So David set out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to ^(R)Jezreel.

Lying Prophets

¹³ Then I said: “Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets ^(A)say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’” ¹⁴ And the Lord said to me: “The ^(B)prophets are prophesying lies in my name. ^(C)I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, ^(D)worthless divination, and ^(E)the deceit of their own minds. ¹⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although ^(F)I did not send them, and who say, ^(G)‘Sword and famine shall not come upon this land’: ^(H)By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. ¹⁶ And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, ^(I)with none to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their evil upon them.

Ascribe to the Lord Glory

A Psalm of David.

A Man with a Withered Hand

3 ^(A)Again ^(B)he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. ² And ^(C)they watched Jesus,^[a] to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. ³ And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” ⁴ And he said to them, ^(D)“Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. ⁵ And he ^(E)looked around at them with anger, grieved at ^(F)their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” ^(G)He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ^6 (H)The Pharisees went out and immediately ^(I)held counsel with ^(J)the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

A Great Crowd Follows Jesus

^7 (K)Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and ^(L)a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea ⁸ and Jerusalem and ^(M)Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around ^(N)Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. ⁹ And he told his disciples to ^(O)have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they ^(P)crush him, ¹⁰ for ^(Q)he had healed many, so that all who had ^(R)diseases pressed around him ^(S)to touch him. ^11 (T)And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they ^(U)fell down before him and cried out, “You are ^(V)the Son of God.” ¹² And ^(W)he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

The Day of the Lord Will Come

3 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them ^(A)I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ^2 (B)that you should remember the predictions of ^(C)the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, ³ knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come ^(D)in the last days with scoffing, ^(E)following their own sinful desires. ^4 (F)They will say, “Where is the promise of ^(G)his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth ^(H)was formed out of water and through water ^(I)by the word of God, ⁶ and that by means of these the world that then existed ^(J)was deluged with water and ^(K)perished. ⁷ But by the same word ^(L)the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and ^(M)destruction of the ungodly.

⁸ But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and ^(N)a thousand years as one day. ^9 (O)The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise ^(P)as some count slowness, but ^(Q)is patient toward you,^{[a] (R)}not wishing that any should perish, but ^(S)that all should reach repentance. ¹⁰ But ^(T)the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then ^(U)the heavens will pass away with a roar, and ^(V)the heavenly bodies^[b] will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.^[c]

¹¹ Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, ^(W)what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, ^12 (X)waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and ^(Y)the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! ¹³ But according to his promise we are waiting for ^(Z)new heavens and a new earth ^(AA)in which righteousness dwells.

Final Words

^14 (AB)Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him ^(AC)without spot or ^(AD)blemish, and ^(AE)at peace. ¹⁵ And count ^(AF)the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as ^(AG)our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you ^(AH)according to the wisdom given him, ¹⁶ as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. ^(AI)There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, ^(AJ)as they do the other Scriptures. ¹⁷ You therefore, beloved, ^(AK)knowing this beforehand, ^(AL)take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. ¹⁸ But ^(AM)grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ^(AN)To him be the glory both now and to the day of ^(AO)eternity. Amen.