17. You are still against my people. You are not letting them go free.
18. So at this time tomorrow, I will cause a very bad hailstorm. There has never been a hailstorm like this in Egypt, not since Egypt became a nation.
19. Now, you must put your animals in a safe place. Everything you own that is now in the fields must be put in a safe place. Any person or animal that remains in the fields will be killed. The hail will fall on everything that is not gathered into your houses.’”
20. Some of Pharaoh’s officials paid attention to the Lord’S message. They quickly put all of their animals and slaves into houses.
21. But other people ignored the Lord’S message and lost all their slaves and animals that were in the fields.
22. The Lord told Moses, “Raise your hand into the air and the hail will start falling all over Egypt. The hail will fall on all the people, animals, and plants in all the fields of Egypt.”
23. So Moses raised his walking stick into the air, and the Lord sent hail with thunder and lightning down on the earth. The Lord caused hail to fall all over Egypt.
24. The hail was falling, and lightning was flashing all through it. It was the worst hailstorm that had ever hit Egypt since it had become a nation.
25. The storm destroyed everything in the fields in Egypt. The hail destroyed people, animals, and plants. The hail also broke all the trees in the fields.
26. The only place that did not get hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived.
27. Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and told them, “This time I have sinned. The Lord is right, and I and my people are wrong.
28. We have had enough of this hail and thunder! Ask the Lord to stop the storm, and I will let you go. You don’t have to stay here.”
29. Moses told Pharaoh, “When I leave the city, I will lift my hands in prayer to the Lord, and the thunder and hail will stop. Then you will know that the Lord is in this land.
30. But I know that you and your officials don’t really fear and respect the Lord yet.”
31. The flax had already developed its seeds, and the barley was already blooming. So these plants were destroyed.