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!
14. If you don't, he will send his worst plagues to strike you, your officials, and everyone else in your country. Then you will find out that no one can oppose the Lord.
15. In fact, he could already have sent a terrible disease and wiped you from the face of the earth.
16. But he has kept you alive, just to show you his power and to bring honour to himself everywhere in the world.
17. You are still determined not to let the Lord's people go.
18. All right. At this time tomorrow, he will bring on Egypt the worst hailstorm in its history.
19. You had better give orders for every person and every animal in Egypt to take shelter. If they don't, they will die.
20. Some of the king's officials were frightened by what the Lord had said, and they hurried off to make sure their slaves and animals were safe.
21. But others paid no attention to his threats and left their slaves and animals out in the open.
22. Then the Lord told Moses, “Stretch your arm towards the sky, so that hailstones will fall on people, animals, and crops in the land of Egypt.”
23-24. Moses pointed his walking stick towards the sky, and hailstones started falling everywhere. Thunder roared, and lightning flashed back and forth, striking the ground. This was the worst storm in the history of Egypt.
25. People, animals, and crops were pounded by the hailstones, and bark was stripped from trees.
26. Only Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was safe from the storm.