1. The Lord sent Moses with this message for the king of Egypt:The Lord God of the Hebrews commands you to let his people go, so they can worship him.
2. If you keep refusing,
3. he will bring a terrible disease on your horses and donkeys, your camels and cattle, and your sheep and goats.
4. But the Lord will protect the animals that belong to the people of Israel, and none of theirs will die.
5. Tomorrow is the day the Lord has set to do this.
6. It happened the next day—all the animals belonging to the Egyptians died, but the Israelites did not lose even one.
7. When the king found out, he was still too stubborn to let the people go.
8. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron:Take a few handfuls of ashes from a stove and let Moses throw them into the air. Be sure the king is watching.
9. The ashes will blow across the land of Egypt, causing sores to break out on people and animals.
10. So they took a few handfuls of ashes and went to the king. Moses threw them into the air, and sores immediately broke out on the Egyptians and their animals.
11. The magicians were suffering so much from the sores, that they could not even come to Moses.
12. Everything happened just as the Lord had told Moses—he made the king too stubborn to listen to Moses and Aaron.
13. The Lord told Moses to get up early the next morning and say to the king:The Lord God of the Hebrews commands you to let his people go, so they can worship him!