Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Tell him,’This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews , says: Let My people go, so they can worship Me. If you don’t I will send more plagues on you and your officials and your people. Then you will know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. By now I could have lifted My hand and struck and an your people with a plague to wipe you off the face of the earth. But I have spared you for a purpose-that I may show My power and to spread My fame throughout the earth. But you still lord it over My people and refuse to let them go. So tomorrow at time I will send a hailstorm more devastating than any in all the history of Egypt. Quick! Oder your livestock and servants to come in from the fields to find shelter. They will die when the hail falls.;” (vv. 13-19, NLT)
So Moses lifted up his staff toward the sky, and the Lord set thunder and hail, and the lightning flashed toward the earth. The Lord sent a tremendous hailstorm agains all the land of Egypt. Never in all history of Egypt had there been storm like that, with such devastating hail and continuous lightning. It left all of Egypt in ruins. The hail struck down everything in the open field-people, animals, and plants alike. Even the trees were destroyed. The only place without hail was the region of Goshen, where the people of Israel lived. (vv. 23-26, NLT)
So Moses left Pharaoh’s court and went out of the city. When he lifted up his hand to the Lord, the thunder and hail stopped, and the downpour ceased. But when Pharaoh saw that rain, hail, and thunder had stopped, he and his officials sinned again, and Pharaoh again became stubborn. Because his heart was hard, Pharaoh refused to let the people leave, just as the Lord had predicted through Moses. (vv. 33-35, NLT)