9:13–35 A thunderstorm with hail and ground-striking lightning killed the first Egyptians in the seventh plague. As the risks grew, the Lord provided warning. Anyone who would seek life under God’s rule would survive. God cautioned Pharaoh’s officials to bring their servants in from the storm. Some of them respected the warning and saved human and animal life. The Lord explained the purpose of all the plagues in this text, “that you might know that the earth belongs to Yahweh” (v. 29, author’s translation).

Moses begins here, as always, with the imperative freedom to worship formula, “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” Again, this third cycle of three plagues begins in the same way as the first two cycles of three, confronting the pharaoh early in the morning (7:15; 8:20; 9:1…