Exodus 9 recounts three of the ten plagues that the LORD God sent upon Egypt as part of His effort to compel Pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery. The chapter opens with God instructing Moses to deliver a warning to Pharaoh: If he refused to let the people go, God would strike the Egyptian livestock with a devastating disease. God made clear that the livestock of the Israelites would be spared, drawing a sharp distinction between His people and the Egyptians.
The next day, the plague came to pass exactly as God had said. All of the Egyptian livestock died, while not a single animal belonging to the Israelites perished. Pharaoh investigated and confirmed this miraculous distinction, yet his heart remained hardened, and he refused to release the people.
The LORD then directed Moses and Aaron to take handfuls of soot from a furnace and toss it into the air before Pharaoh. The ashes spread across the land and caused festering boils to break out on both people and animals throughout Egypt. Even the Egyptian magicians, who had previously attempted to counter Moses and Aaron's signs, were so afflicted that they couldn't even stand before Moses. Still, God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not listen.
The final plague recorded in Exodus 9 was a catastrophic hailstorm. God warned Pharaoh through Moses that the storm would be unlike anything Egypt had ever seen, and he urged the Egyptians to bring their remaining livestock and servants indoors to protect them. Those among Pharaoh's officials who feared the LORD God heeded the warning and took shelter, while those who disregarded the warning left their people and animals exposed in the fields.
The hail came down with tremendous force, accompanied by thunder and lightning. It destroyed crops, stripped trees, and killed every person and animal left in the open fields. The only place untouched by the storm was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived. Pharaoh, shaken by the devastation, summoned Moses and Aaron and appeared to repent, acknowledging that he and his people had sinned and that God was in the right. He asked Moses to pray for the storm to stop, promising to let the Israelites go.
Moses agreed to pray, saying he would spread out his hands to God and the storm would cease — but he warned Pharaoh that he didn't yet truly fear the LORD God. True to Moses' prediction, as soon as the hail and thunder stopped, Pharaoh's heart hardened once more. He and his officials refused to let the Israelites go, just as God had said would happen.
