Study Desk

God said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh. Tell him, ‘ God , the God of the Hebrews, says: Release my people so they can worship me. This time I am going to strike you and your servants and your people with the full force of my power so you'll get it into your head that there's no one like me anywhere in all the Earth. You know that by now I could have struck you and your people with deadly disease and there would be nothing left of you, not a trace. But for one reason only I've kept you on your feet: To make you recognize my power so that my reputation spreads in all the Earth. You are still building yourself up at my people's expense. You are not letting them go. So here's what's going to happen: At this time tomorrow I'm sending a terrific hailstorm—there's never been a storm like this in Egypt from the day of its founding until now. So get your livestock under roof—everything exposed in the open fields, people and animals, will die when the hail comes down.'"

All of Pharaoh's servants who had respect for God 's word got their workers and animals under cover as fast as they could, but those who didn't take God 's word seriously left their workers and animals out in the field.

God said to Moses: "Stretch your hands to the skies. Signal the hail to fall all over Egypt on people and animals and crops exposed in the fields of Egypt."

Moses lifted his staff to the skies and God sent peals of thunder and hail shot through with lightning strikes. God rained hail down on the land of Egypt. The hail came, hail and lightning—a fierce hailstorm. There had been nothing like it in Egypt in its entire history. The hail hit hard all over Egypt. Everything exposed out in the fields, people and animals and crops, was smashed. Even the trees in the fields were shattered. Except for Goshen where the Israelites lived; there was no hail in Goshen.

Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. He said, "I've sinned for sure this time— God is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong. Pray to God . We've had enough of God 's thunder and hail. I'll let you go. The sooner you're out of here the better."

Moses said, "As soon as I'm out of the city, I'll stretch out my arms to God . The thunder will stop and the hail end so you'll know that the land is God 's land. Still, I know that you and your servants have no respect for God ."

Moses left Pharaoh and the city and stretched out his arms to God . The thunder and hail stopped; the storm cleared.

But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he kept right on sinning, stubborn as ever, both he and his servants. Pharaoh's heart turned rock-hard. He refused to release the Israelites, as God had ordered through Moses.

God said to Moses: "Go to Pharaoh. I've made him stubborn, him and his servants, so that I can force him to look at these signs and so you'll be able to tell your children and grandchildren how I toyed with the Egyptians, like a cat with a mouse; you'll tell them the stories of the signs that I brought down on them, so that you'll all know that I am God ."

Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, " God , the God of the Hebrews, says, ‘How long are you going to refuse to knuckle under? Release my people so that they can worship me. If you refuse to release my people, watch out; tomorrow I'm bringing locusts into your country. They'll cover every square inch of ground; no one will be able to see the ground. They'll devour everything left over from the hailstorm, even the saplings out in the fields—they'll clear-cut the trees. And they'll invade your houses, filling the houses of your servants, filling every house in Egypt. Nobody will have ever seen anything like this, from the time your ancestors first set foot on this soil until today.'" Then he turned on his heel and left Pharaoh.

Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long are you going to let this man harass us? Let these people go and worship their God . Can't you see that Egypt is on its last legs?"

So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. He said to them, "Go ahead then. Go worship your God . But just who exactly is going with you?"

Moses said, "We're taking young and old, sons and daughters, flocks and herds—this is our worship-celebration of God ."

He said, "I'd sooner send you off with God 's blessings than let you go with your children. Look, you're up to no good—it's written all over your faces. Nothing doing. Just the men are going—go ahead and worship God . That's what you want so badly." And they were thrown out of Pharaoh's presence.

God said to Moses: "Stretch your hand over Egypt and signal the locusts to cover the land of Egypt, devouring every blade of grass in the country, everything that the hail didn't get."

Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt. God let loose an east wind. It blew that day and night. By morning the east wind had brought in the locusts.

Pharaoh had Moses and Aaron back in no time. He said, "I've sinned against your God and against you. Overlook my sin one more time. Pray to your God to get me out of this—get death out of here!"

Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to God . God reversed the wind—a powerful west wind took the locusts and dumped them into the Red Sea. There wasn't a single locust left in the whole country of Egypt.

But God made Pharaoh stubborn as ever. He still didn't release the Israelites.

God said to Moses: "Stretch your hand to the skies. Let darkness descend on the land of Egypt—a darkness so dark you can touch it."