9:20-21 Refusal to Repent Many readers are so preoccupied with deciphering the horrifying details of these judgments that they miss the comparatively restrained purpose statements. Repentance seems to be a possibility, even in the midst of such awful plagues, which remind us of what happened to the hard heart of Pharaoh in Egypt (Exod 7–12). A merciful God still seeks to call lost people back to himself, even through agonizing punishment.