Death of livestock
9
📚Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: Let my people go, so that they may serve me. 2 📚For if you refuse to let them go, and still hold them, 3 📚then the hand of the LORD will bring a very severe plague on your livestock that is in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep. 4 📚And the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing will die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.’ ” 5 📚And the LORD appointed a definite time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this thing in the land”. 6 📚And the LORD did that very thing the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died. But not one of the livestock of the children of Israel died.9:6 The gods of the Egyptians were powerless in the face of God’s judgments and were unable to prevent such a calamity to some of the people’s prized and essential possessions.⚜
7 📚And Pharaoh sent and saw that there was not one of the livestock of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
9:7 Pharaoh knew it was God at work but he would not submit to Him (compare Dan 5:22-23).⚜
Boils
8 📚And the LORD said to Moses and to Aaron, “Take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle them toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh.
9:8 The Egyptians worshiped a god of the air also. Jehovah now shows He is the master over the regions of the air.⚜
9 📚And they will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt which will become boils breaking out in sores on man and on animal, throughout the whole land of Egypt”.
10 📚And they took ashes from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkled them up toward the sky, and they became boils breaking out in sores on man and on animal. 11 📚And the magicians could not stand in the presence of Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.
12 📚And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had told Moses.
9:12 Note at Ex 4:21.⚜
Hail
13 📚And the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him: ‘Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: Let my people go, so that they may serve me. 14 📚For this time I will send all my plagues on your heart and on your servants and on your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 15 📚For if by now I had stretched out my hand to strike you and your people with plague, you would have been destroyed from the earth. 16 📚But I have raised you up for this very purpose, to show you my power, and to have my name declared throughout the whole earth.
9:16 Ex 4:21; 6:7; 7:5; Rom 9:17. The report of God’s deliverance of His people from Egypt spread to many places (Ex 15:14-16). Jethro in Midian heard (Ex 18:4). Balaam, who lived far away at the Euphrates river, also knew of it (Num 23:22-23; 24:8). Rahab in the land of Canaan knew of it (Josh 2:9-11). Today people know of it wherever the Bible is read.⚜
17 📚Still you are exalting yourself over my people and will not let them go.
18 📚Now tomorrow about this time, I will send a very heavy hail, such as has not been in Egypt from its establishment until now. 19 📚Therefore send now and gather your livestock, and all that you have in the field. For the hail will fall on every man and animal that is found in the field that is not brought home, and they will die.’ ”
20 📚Among the servants of Pharaoh, those who feared the word of the LORD got his servants and his livestock to run into the houses. 21 📚But those who did not pay attention to the word of the LORD left his servants and his livestock in the field.
22 📚And the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and on animal, and on every plant in the field, throughout the land of Egypt”. 23 📚And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along on the ground, and the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt. 24 📚So there was hail and fire mixed with the hail, very heavy. There had not been anything like it in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.
9:23-24 Jehovah showed himself as the master of the powers of nature. The storm god of the Egyptians was seen to be powerless.⚜
25 📚And in the whole land of Egypt the hail struck all that was in the field, both man and animal. The hail also struck every plant in the field, and shattered every tree in the field. 26 📚Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.
27 📚And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
9:27 Even Pharaoh says he has sinned (Ex 10:16). In the Bible this is a common admission (Num 14:40; 22:34; Josh 7:20; 1 Sam 15:24; 2 Sam 12:13; 24:10; Matt 27:4). But the confession must be sincere and accompanied with repentance and a turning to God; otherwise it is worthless. Pharaoh’s was worthless. See real confession and repentance in Ps 51.⚜
28 📚Pray to the LORD, for there has been enough of this mighty thundering and hail, and I will let you go, and you will stay no longer”.
29 📚And Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD, and the thunder shall cease, and there will not be any more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s.
30 📚But as for you and your servants, I know that you will not yet fear the LORD God”.
9:30 Moses saw Pharaoh’s self-deception and insincerity.⚜
31 📚And the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bud. 32 📚But the wheat and the rye were not struck, for they had not grown.
33 📚And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread out his hands to the LORD, and the thunder and hail stopped, and rain no longer poured on the earth. 34 📚And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had stopped, he continued to sin, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35 📚And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the children of Israel go, just as the LORD had spoken by Moses.