Exodus 9:23–35

²³When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder^c and hail,^d and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt; ²⁴hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.^{e 25}Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—both people and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree.^{f 26}The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen,^g where the Israelites were.^h

²⁷Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,”ⁱ he said to them. “The Lord is in the right,^j and I and my people are in the wrong. ²⁸Pray^k to the Lord, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go;^l you don’t have to stay any longer.”

²⁹Moses replied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands^m in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earthⁿ is the Lord’s. ³⁰But I know that you and your officials still do not fear^o the Lord God.”

³¹(The flax and barley^p were destroyed, since the barley had headed and the flax was in bloom. ³²The wheat and spelt,^q however, were not destroyed, because they ripen later.)

³³Then Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He spread out his hands toward the Lord; the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the land. ³⁴When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. ³⁵So Pharaoh’s heart^r was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.