Tomorrow at this time I will cause the heaviest hail to fall that has ever fallen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.
Send, therefore, and have your livestock and everything that you have in the open field brought to a secure place; every human or animal that is in the open field and is not brought under shelter will die when the hail comes down upon them.’”
Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the LORD hurried their slaves and livestock off to a secure place.
Those who did not regard the word of the LORD left their slaves and livestock in the open field.
22 The LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that hail may fall on the whole land of Egypt, on humans and animals and all the plants of the field in the land of Egypt.”
Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire came down on the earth. And the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt;
there was hail with fire flashing continually in the midst of it, such heavy hail as had never fallen in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
The hail struck down everything that was in the open field throughout all the land of Egypt, both human and animal; the hail also struck down all the plants of the field, and shattered every tree in the field.
Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, there was no hail.
27 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.
Pray to the LORD! Enough of God’s thunder and hail! I will let you go; you need stay no longer.”
Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, 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 the earth is the LORD’s.
But as for you and your officials, I know that you do not yet fear the LORD God.”
(Now the flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud.
But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they are late in coming up.)
So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and stretched out his hands to the LORD; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the earth.
But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned once more and hardened his heart, he and his officials.
So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.
10 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his officials, in order that I may show these signs of mine among them,
and that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I have made fools of the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them—so that you may know that I am the LORD.”
3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
For if you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country.
They shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They shall devour the last remnant left you after the hail, and they shall devour every tree of yours that grows in the field.
They shall fill your houses, and the houses of all your officials and of all the Egyptians—something that neither your parents nor your grandparents have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.
7 Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long shall this fellow be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God; do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?”
So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, worship the LORD your God! But which ones are to go?”
Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; we will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, because we have the LORD’s festival to celebrate.”
He said to them, “The LORD indeed will be with you, if ever I let your little ones go with you! Plainly, you have some evil purpose in mind.
No, never! Your men may go and worship the LORD, for that is what you are asking.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
12 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may come upon it and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.”
So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night; when morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts.
The locusts came upon all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever shall be again.
They covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was black; and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left; nothing green was left, no tree, no plant in the field, in all the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh hurriedly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you.
Do forgive my sin just this once, and pray to the LORD your God that at the least he remove this deadly thing from me.”
So he went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD.
The LORD changed the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea;[23 (#ulink_c92d78c5-98af-531e-8af5-66f0c21fb842)] not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt.
But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.
21 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.”
So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was dense darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.
People could not see one another, and for three days they could not move from where they were; but all the Israelites had light where they lived.
Then Pharaoh summoned Moses, and said, “Go, worship the LORD. Only your flocks and your herds shall remain behind. Even your children may go with you.”
But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings to sacrifice to the LORD our God.
Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must choose some of them for the worship of the LORD our God, and we will not know what to use to worship the LORD until we arrive there.”
But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go.
Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Take care that you do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.”
Moses said, “Just as you say! I will never see your face again.”
For reflection: Exodus 11:1
“How could we endure to live and let time pass if we were always crying for one day or one year to come back if we did not know that every day in a life fills the whole life with expectation and memory and these are that day?”
—from Out of the Silent Planet
