The Hebrew word barad refers to hail or hailstones — the frozen precipitation used as a weapon of divine judgment in the plagues of Egypt, the conquest of Canaan, and eschatological judgment passages.
Barad is one of the most dramatic instruments of God's judgment in Scripture. The seventh plague (Exodus 9) featured the most severe hailstorm Egypt had ever known, destroying crops, animals, and people — yet Israel in Goshen was supernaturally spared. This established barad as a covenantal sign: the same storm that destroys the enemies of God leaves His people untouched. Joshua 10:11 records that more enemies died from God's hailstones than by Israelite swords — emphasizing that the battle belongs to the LORD. Revelation 16:21 culminates this imagery in the final bowl judgment: hundred-pound hailstones as ultimate divine wrath. Hail embodies God's absolute sovereignty over natural forces.