Stories from the Bible

The LORD told Moses, "Raise your hand toward the sky. Then the hail will start falling in all the land of Egypt. It will fall on people, animals, and on everything that grows in the fields of Egypt." When Moses raised his walking stick toward the sky, the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the earth. So he caused hail to fall upon the land of Egypt. There was hail, and lightning flashed as it hailed-the worst hailstorm in Egypt since it had become a nation. The hail destroyed all the people and animals that were in the fields in all the land of Egypt. It also destroyed everything that grew in the fields and broke all the trees in the fields. The only place it did not hail was in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived. The king sent for Moses and Aaron and told 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 We have had enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, you do not have to stay here any longer." Moses told the king ," When I leave the city, I will raise my hands to the LORD in prayer, and the thunder and hail will stop. Then you will know that the earth belongs to the LORD. But I know that the earth belongs to the LORD. But I know that you and your officers do not yet fear the LORD GOD." The flax was in bloom, and the barley had ripened, so these crops were destroyed. But both wheat crops ripen later, so they were not destroyed. Moses left the king and went outside the city. He raised his hands to the LORD, and the thunder and hail stopped . The rain also stopped falling to the ground. When the king saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had stopped, he sinned again, and he and his officers became stubborn. So the king became stubborn and refused to let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.