Exodus 9
English Standard Version
The Fifth Plague: Egyptian Livestock Die
9 Then the Lord said to Moses, (A)“Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says (B)the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, 3 behold, (C)the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. 4 (D)But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.”’” 5 And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” 6 And the next day the Lord did this thing. (E)All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. 7 And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But (F)the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
The Sixth Plague: Boils
8 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become (G)boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” 10 So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. 11 And (H)the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. 12 (I)But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as (J)the Lord had spoken to Moses.
The Seventh Plague: Hail
13 Then the Lord said to Moses, (K)“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 (L)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 (M)But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so (N)that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 17 (O)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, (P)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 (Q)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 (R)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 (S)struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. 26 (T)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 (U)I have sinned; the (V)Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 (W)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, (X)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 (Y)the earth is the Lord's. 30 But as for you and your servants, (Z)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 (AA)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 (AB)hardened his heart, (AC)he and his servants. 35 So (AD)the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.
Footnotes
- Exodus 9:14 Hebrew on your heart
- Exodus 9:32 A type of wheat
Exodus 9
EasyEnglish Bible
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!
Footnotes
- 9:30 Moses knew that Pharaoh and his servants were not really afraid of God. They only wanted their problems to go away. They wanted the bad things that were happening to stop.
- 9:32 Flax is a plant. People make cloth from the flax plant. Barley is a food plant. Wheat is also a food plant that makes grains. These plants had not yet grown as tall, so the hail did not destroy them.
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