Strike Five: Animals 1-4 God said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ' God,
the God of the Hebrews, says: Release my people so they can worship me.
If you refuse to release them and continue to hold on to them, I'm
giving you fair warning: God
will come down hard on your livestock out in the fields—horses,
donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep—striking them with a severe disease. God
will draw a sharp line between the livestock of Israel and the
livestock of Egypt. Not one animal that belongs to the Israelites will
die.'" 5 Then God set the time: "Tomorrow God will do this thing." 6-7 And the next day God
did it. All the livestock of Egypt died, but not one animal of the
Israelites died. Pharaoh sent men to find out what had happened and
there it was: none of the livestock of the Israelites had died—not one
death. But Pharaoh stayed stubborn. He wouldn't release the people. Strike Six: Boils 8-11 God
said to Moses and Aaron, "Take fistfuls of soot from a furnace and have
Moses throw it into the air right before Pharaoh's eyes; it will become
a film of fine dust all over Egypt and cause sores, an eruption of
boils on people and animals throughout Egypt." So they took soot from a
furnace, stood in front of Pharaoh, and threw it up into the air. It
caused boils to erupt on people and animals. The magicians weren't able
to compete with Moses this time because of the boils—they were covered
with boils just like everyone else in Egypt. 12 God hardened Pharaoh in his stubbornness. He wouldn't listen, just as God had said to Moses. |