Exodus 9:25
“The hail struck throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and animal; and the hail struck every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field.”
What does Exodus 9:25 mean?
When God sent hail as the seventh plague, it wasn't a localized storm but a catastrophic event that destroyed everything in its path, livestock, crops, and even people caught outside. This wasn't just property damage; it was a direct assault on Egypt's food supply and economy, which depended entirely on the annual flooding and fertility of the Nile valley. The detail that "every tree" was broken emphasizes the totality of the destruction, showing that nowhere and nothing in the open was safe. For the Egyptian people watching their livelihoods disappear, this would have felt like their entire world was collapsing, which is precisely the point: each plague intensified the message that Egypt's gods could not protect them against the God of Israel.