The plagues begin, as does the struggle between Moses and the priests of pharaoh. It all starts with their ability to change their staffs into snakes as well – however, Aaron's staff eats all theirs. This is followed by the plague of blood and frogs, which the magicians also copied. However, Moses was the lone prayer that would receive relief. He would bring relief by praying to God. As relief happens, pharaoh gets a hard heart. The plague of gnats is next, and the magicians cannot repeat it. This leads to them saying all of this is from God – but pharaoh does not change his mind. The flies get pharaoh to almost let them go – but he pulls back the offer again when relief is felt. It was in that plague that the land of Goshen (where the Israelites live) is unaffected by the plague. Then there is a plague of death on the livestock, but not on the livestock of Israel – but pharaoh stays hard. Then we have the plague of boils, which stops the magicians from being in the presence of Moses. Still, there is a hard heart. The last plague of our reading is the plague of hail within a mighty thunderstorm. Pharaoh again does not relent of his poor behavior, and keeps them from going out to sacrifice to God, the Lord.
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