12. But the Lord made the king stubborn. So he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. This happened just as the Lord had said.
13. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and go to the king of Egypt. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go to worship me.
14. If you do not do this, this time I will punish you with all my power. I will punish you, your officers and your people. Then you will know that there is no one in the whole land like me.
15. By now I could have used my power and caused a bad disease. It would have destroyed you and your people from the earth.
16. But I have let you live for this reason: to show you my power. In this way my name will be talked about in all the earth.
17. You are still against my people. You do not want to let them go.
18. So at this time tomorrow, I will send a terrible hailstorm. It will be the worst in Egypt since it became a nation.
19. Now send for your animals and whatever you have in the fields. Bring them into a safe place. The hail will fall on every person or animal that is still in the fields. If they have not been brought in, they will die.’”
20. Some of the king’s officers respected the word of the Lord. They hurried to bring their slaves and animals inside.
21. But others ignored the Lord’s message. They left their slaves and animals in the fields.
22. The Lord told Moses, “Raise your hand toward the sky. Then the hail will start falling over all the land of Egypt. It will fall on people, animals and on everything that grows in the fields of Egypt.”