Shemot (Exodus): Va’eira > Ch 9

G-d sends Moses and Aaron to bring out PESTILENCE

  • The Lord said to Moses: Come to Pharaoh and speak to him, 'So said the Lord, G-d of the Hebrews, "Let My people go, that they may serve Me. For if you refuse to let them go, and you still hold on to them behold, the hand of the Lord will be upon your livestock that is in the field, upon the horses, upon the donkeys, upon the camels, upon the cattle, and upon the sheep, a very severe pestilence. And the Lord will make a separation between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing of the children of Israel will die. " '
  • All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not even one of the livestock of Israel died. Pharaoh’s heart became hardened and he did not let the people out.


G-d sends Moses and Aaron to bring out BOILS

  • The Lord said to Moses and to Aaron: Take yourselves handfuls of furnace soot, and Moses shall cast it heavenward before Pharaoh's eyes. And it will become dust upon the entire land of Egypt, and it will become boils, breaking out into blisters upon man and upon beast throughout the entire land of Egypt.
  • Moses and Aaron did so. Pharaoh’s magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were upon the necromancers and upon all Egypt. But the Lord strengthened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not hearken to them, as the Lord spoke to Moses.


G-d sends Moses and Aaron to bring out HAIL

  • The Lord said to Moses: Rise early in the morning and stand erect before Pharaoh, and say to him, 'So said the Lord, the G-d of the Hebrews, "Let My people go so that they may worship Me. Because this time, I am sending all My plagues into your heart and into your servants and into your people, in order that you know that there is none like Me in the entire earth. For if now I had stretched forth My hand, and I had smitten you and your people with pestilence, you would have been annihilated from the earth. But, for this [reason] I have allowed you to stand, in order to show you My strength and in order to declare My name all over the earth. If you still tread upon My people, not letting them out, behold, I am going to rain down at this time tomorrow a very heavy hail, the likes of which has never been in Egypt from the day of its being founded until now. And now, send, gather in your livestock and all that you have in the field, any man or beast that is found in the field and not brought into the house the hail shall fall on them, and they will die." '
  • Those who feared the word of G-d, drove their servants and livestock into the houses. But he who did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field.
  • The Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth your hand heavenward, and hail will be upon the entire land of Egypt, upon man and upon beast and upon all the vegetation of the field in the land of Egypt. And the Lord gave forth thunder and hail, and fire came down to the earth, and the Lord rained down hail upon the land of Egypt. And there was hail, and fire flaming within the hail, very heavy, the likes of which had never been throughout the entire land of Egypt since it had become a nation. The hail struck throughout the entire land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast, and the hail struck all the vegetation of the field, and it broke all the trees of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.


Pharaoh asks Moses & Aaron to ask G-d to stop the hail

  • Moses went out of the city, and he spread out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and rain did not come down to earth. But Pharaoh hardened his heart and did not let the people go.