King James Version
Exodus 9
35 verses with commentary
The Fifth Plague: Livestock Disease
Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 1 describes the plague on livestock, targeting Apis bull cult and Hathor cow goddess. God strikes Egyptian livestock while Israelite animals remain healthy. The 'set time' (מוֹעֵד, moed—appointed time) emphasizes God's sovereignty over timing.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
IX.
THE FIFTH PLAGUE.
(1-3) The nature of the fifth plague is manifest, and admits of no dispute. It was a *rinderpest,* or murrain upon cattle; which, however, unlike most similar disorders, attacked *the greater number* of the domesticated animals—horses, asses, camels, oxen, and sheep. Thus it was “very grievous” (Exodus 9:3). Horses were highly prized by the Egyptians, and were a comparatively...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 9
Chapter Outline
The murrain of beasts.(1-7)
The plague of boils and blains.(8-12)
The plague of hail threatened.(13-21)
The plague of hail inflicted.(22-35)
**Verses 1-7**
God will have Israel released, Pharaoh opposes it, and the trial is, whose word shall stand. The hand of the Lord at once is upon the cattle, many of which, some of all kinds, die by a sort of...
Read full commentary →For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,
View commentary (2 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 2 describes the plague on livestock, targeting Apis bull cult and Hathor cow goddess. God strikes Egyptian livestock while Israelite animals remain healthy. The 'set time' (מוֹעֵד, moed—appointed time) emphasizes God's sovereignty over timing.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 9
Chapter Outline
The murrain of beasts.(1-7)
The plague of boils and blains.(8-12)
The plague of hail threatened.(13-21)
The plague of hail inflicted.(22-35)
**Verses 1-7**
God will have Israel released, Pharaoh opposes it, and the trial is, whose word shall stand. The hand of the Lord at once is upon the cattle, many of which, some of all kinds, die by a sort of...
Read full commentary →Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.
View commentary (2 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 3 describes the plague on livestock, targeting Apis bull cult and Hathor cow goddess. God strikes Egyptian livestock while Israelite animals remain healthy. The 'set time' (מוֹעֵד, moed—appointed time) emphasizes God's sovereignty over timing.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 9
Chapter Outline
The murrain of beasts.(1-7)
The plague of boils and blains.(8-12)
The plague of hail threatened.(13-21)
The plague of hail inflicted.(22-35)
**Verses 1-7**
God will have Israel released, Pharaoh opposes it, and the trial is, whose word shall stand. The hand of the Lord at once is upon the cattle, many of which, some of all kinds, die by a sort of...
Read full commentary →And the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 4 describes the plague on livestock, targeting Apis bull cult and Hathor cow goddess. God strikes Egyptian livestock while Israelite animals remain healthy. The 'set time' (מוֹעֵד, moed—appointed time) emphasizes God's sovereignty over timing.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **The Lord shall sever.**—Comp. Exodus 8:22. Apparently Israel had been subjected to the first, second, and third plagues, which caused annoyance only, and not loss. Their exemption began with the fourth plague, and then probably continued without intermission, though it is not always mentioned.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 9
Chapter Outline
The murrain of beasts.(1-7)
The plague of boils and blains.(8-12)
The plague of hail threatened.(13-21)
The plague of hail inflicted.(22-35)
**Verses 1-7**
God will have Israel released, Pharaoh opposes it, and the trial is, whose word shall stand. The hand of the Lord at once is upon the cattle, many of which, some of all kinds, die by a sort of...
Read full commentary →And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 5 describes the plague on livestock, targeting Apis bull cult and Hathor cow goddess. God strikes Egyptian livestock while Israelite animals remain healthy. The 'set time' (מוֹעֵד, moed—appointed time) emphasizes God's sovereignty over timing.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **The Lord appointed a** **set** **time.**—As murrain is not uncommon in Egypt, especially in the Delta, and the coming affliction might therefore be ascribed by the Egyptians to natural causes, God took care to mark its miraculous character (1) by appointing a time; (2) by exempting the cattle of Israel; (3) by making the disease fatal to *all* the cattle of the Egyptians that were left “in t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 7 Ex 7:1-25. Second Interview with Pharaoh.
**1. the Lord said unto Moses--**He is here encouraged to wait again on the king--not, however, as formerly, in the attitude of a humble suppliant, but now armed with credentials as God's ambassador, and to make his demand in a tone and manner which no earthly monarch or court ever witnessed.
**I have made thee a god--**"made," that is, set, a...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 9
Chapter Outline
The murrain of beasts.(1-7)
The plague of boils and blains.(8-12)
The plague of hail threatened.(13-21)
The plague of hail inflicted.(22-35)
**Verses 1-7**
God will have Israel released, Pharaoh opposes it, and the trial is, whose word shall stand. The hand of the Lord at once is upon the cattle, many of which, some of all kinds, die by a sort of...
Read full commentary →And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.
View commentary (2 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 6 describes the plague on livestock, targeting Apis bull cult and Hathor cow goddess. God strikes Egyptian livestock while Israelite animals remain healthy. The 'set time' (מוֹעֵד, moed—appointed time) emphasizes God's sovereignty over timing.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 9
Chapter Outline
The murrain of beasts.(1-7)
The plague of boils and blains.(8-12)
The plague of hail threatened.(13-21)
The plague of hail inflicted.(22-35)
**Verses 1-7**
God will have Israel released, Pharaoh opposes it, and the trial is, whose word shall stand. The hand of the Lord at once is upon the cattle, many of which, some of all kinds, die by a sort of...
Read full commentary →And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 7 describes the plague on livestock, targeting Apis bull cult and Hathor cow goddess. God strikes Egyptian livestock while Israelite animals remain healthy. The 'set time' (מוֹעֵד, moed—appointed time) emphasizes God's sovereignty over timing.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Pharaoh sent.**—The Pharaoh evidently did not believe it possible that there should be such a widespread destruction of the Egyptian cattle without the Hebrew cattle suffering at all. He therefore sent persons to inquire and report on the facts. These persons found the announcement of Moses fulfilled to the letter. This was the more surprising, as Goshen consisted mainly of the low flat trac...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. I will harden Pharaoh's heart--**This would be the result. But the divine message would be the occasion, not the cause of the king's impenitent obduracy.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 9
Chapter Outline
The murrain of beasts.(1-7)
The plague of boils and blains.(8-12)
The plague of hail threatened.(13-21)
The plague of hail inflicted.(22-35)
**Verses 1-7**
God will have Israel released, Pharaoh opposes it, and the trial is, whose word shall stand. The hand of the Lord at once is upon the cattle, many of which, some of all kinds, die by a sort of...
Read full commentary →The Sixth Plague: Boils
And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 8 introduces the plague of boils (שְׁחִין, shechin—inflamed sores), targeting Sekhmet (goddess of healing) and Imhotep (god of medicine). The magicians themselves are afflicted and cannot stand before Moses. This plague physically marks Egypt's defeat.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
THE SIXTH PLAGUE.
(8-10) Here, again, there is little question of what the plague was. Doubts may be entertained as to its exact character, and its proper medical designation, but all agree, and cannot but agree, that it was a visitation of the bodies of men with a severe cutaneous disorder, accompanied by pustules or ulcers. It was not announced beforehand to the Egyptians, nor were they allowed ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4-5. I may lay mine hand upon Egypt, &c.--**The succession of terrible judgments with which the country was about to be scourged would fully demonstrate the supremacy of Israel's God.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-12**
When the Egyptians were not wrought upon by the death of their cattle, God sent a plague that seized their own bodies. If lesser judgments do not work, God will send greater. Sometimes God shows men their sin in their punishment. They had oppressed Israel in the furnaces, and now the ashes of the furnace are made a terror to them. The plague itself was very grievous. The magici...
Read full commentary →And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 9 introduces the plague of boils (שְׁחִין, shechin—inflamed sores), targeting Sekhmet (goddess of healing) and Imhotep (god of medicine). The magicians themselves are afflicted and cannot stand before Moses. This plague physically marks Egypt's defeat.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4-5. I may lay mine hand upon Egypt, &c.--**The succession of terrible judgments with which the country was about to be scourged would fully demonstrate the supremacy of Israel's God.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-12**
When the Egyptians were not wrought upon by the death of their cattle, God sent a plague that seized their own bodies. If lesser judgments do not work, God will send greater. Sometimes God shows men their sin in their punishment. They had oppressed Israel in the furnaces, and now the ashes of the furnace are made a terror to them. The plague itself was very grievous. The magici...
Read full commentary →And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 10 introduces the plague of boils (שְׁחִין, shechin—inflamed sores), targeting Sekhmet (goddess of healing) and Imhotep (god of medicine). The magicians themselves are afflicted and cannot stand before Moses. This plague physically marks Egypt's defeat.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven.**—Presenting it, as it were, to God, in evidence of His people’s wrongs.
**A boil breaking forth with blains.**—Heb., *an inflammation, producing pustules.* Diseases of this character are not uncommon in Egypt (comp. Deuteronomy 28:27), but they are not often very severe; nor do they attack indifferently man and beast. The miraculous character of the pla...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-12**
When the Egyptians were not wrought upon by the death of their cattle, God sent a plague that seized their own bodies. If lesser judgments do not work, God will send greater. Sometimes God shows men their sin in their punishment. They had oppressed Israel in the furnaces, and now the ashes of the furnace are made a terror to them. The plague itself was very grievous. The magici...
Read full commentary →And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 11 introduces the plague of boils (שְׁחִין, shechin—inflamed sores), targeting Sekhmet (goddess of healing) and Imhotep (god of medicine). The magicians themselves are afflicted and cannot stand before Moses. This plague physically marks Egypt's defeat.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **The magicians could not stand before Moses.**—It is uncertain whether the magicians were present accidentally, or had come for the express purpose of “withstanding Moses” (2Timothy 3:8). The latter may be suspected, as the plague was made to fall with special violence upon them.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. Moses was fourscore years old--**This advanced age was a pledge that they had not been readily betrayed into a rash or hazardous enterprise, and that under its attendant infirmities they could not have carried through the work on which they were entering had they not been supported by a divine hand.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-12**
When the Egyptians were not wrought upon by the death of their cattle, God sent a plague that seized their own bodies. If lesser judgments do not work, God will send greater. Sometimes God shows men their sin in their punishment. They had oppressed Israel in the furnaces, and now the ashes of the furnace are made a terror to them. The plague itself was very grievous. The magici...
Read full commentary →And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken unto Moses.
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 12 introduces the plague of boils (שְׁחִין, shechin—inflamed sores), targeting Sekhmet (goddess of healing) and Imhotep (god of medicine). The magicians themselves are afflicted and cannot stand before Moses. This plague physically marks Egypt's defeat.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh.**—The judicial punitive hardening of Pharaoh’s heart by God Himself now began. As with the heathen in later times, “because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. God gave them over to a reprobate mind” (Romans 1:28), so now with Pharaoh: because he had twice hardened himself—i.e., resisted an impression made upon him, and crushed his inc...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-12**
When the Egyptians were not wrought upon by the death of their cattle, God sent a plague that seized their own bodies. If lesser judgments do not work, God will send greater. Sometimes God shows men their sin in their punishment. They had oppressed Israel in the furnaces, and now the ashes of the furnace are made a terror to them. The plague itself was very grievous. The magici...
Read full commentary →The Seventh Plague: Hail
And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 13 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
THE SEVENTH PLAGUE.
(13-19) The plagues fall into triads, or groups of three. This is the first plague of the third group, and presents to us several new features. (1) It is ushered in with an unusually long and exceeding awful message (Exodus 9:13-19), in which Pharaoh is warned that God is now about to “send *all* His plagues *upon his heart,”* and that he has been raised up simply that God may ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, &c.--**The king would naturally demand some evidence of their having been sent from God; and as he would expect the ministers of his own gods to do the same works, the contest, in the nature of the case, would be one of miracles. Notice has already been taken of the rod of Moses (Ex 4:2), but rods were carried also by all nobles and official persons in t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-21**
Moses is here ordered to deliver a dreadful message to Pharaoh. Providence ordered it, that Moses should have a man of such a fierce and stubborn spirit as this Pharaoh to deal with; and every thing made it a most signal instance of the power of God has to humble and bring down the proudest of his enemies. When God's justice threatens ruin, his mercy at the same time shows a w...
Read full commentary →For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 14 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **I will . . . send all my plagues upon thine heart.**—The naturally obdurate heart of Pharaoh, which he had further indurated by his own voluntary action (Exodus 8:15; Exodus 8:32), and which God had begun to harden penally (Exodus 9:12), was now to be softened by a repetition of blow after blow, until it should finally succumb, and yield, and humble itself under the mighty hand of God, and ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, &c.--**It is to be presumed that Pharaoh had demanded a proof of their divine mission.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-21**
Moses is here ordered to deliver a dreadful message to Pharaoh. Providence ordered it, that Moses should have a man of such a fierce and stubborn spirit as this Pharaoh to deal with; and every thing made it a most signal instance of the power of God has to humble and bring down the proudest of his enemies. When God's justice threatens ruin, his mercy at the same time shows a w...
Read full commentary →For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 15 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **For now I will stretch out my hand.**—The words admit of this translation, but the context will not allow it. Translate—*And now I might have* *stretched out mine hand, and smitten both thee and thy people with pestilence; and then thou hadst been cut off from the earth; but,* &c.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, &c.--**His object in calling them was to ascertain whether this doing of Aaron's was really a work of divine power or merely a feat of magical art. The magicians of Egypt in modern times have been long celebrated adepts in charming serpents, and particularly by pressing the nape of the neck, they throw them into a kind of catalepsy...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-21**
Moses is here ordered to deliver a dreadful message to Pharaoh. Providence ordered it, that Moses should have a man of such a fierce and stubborn spirit as this Pharaoh to deal with; and every thing made it a most signal instance of the power of God has to humble and bring down the proudest of his enemies. When God's justice threatens ruin, his mercy at the same time shows a w...
Read full commentary →And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. raised: Heb. made thee stand
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 16 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up.**—Rather, *but truly on this account* *have I made thee stand*—*i.e.,* kept thee alive, not for thy deserts, not even in pity, but only “for to show in thee My power.” Thou hast provoked Me so that long since thou wouldst have been “cut off from the earth,” only that My glory will be the more shown forth by thy continuance in life, and ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods--**This was what they could not be prepared for, and the discomfiture appeared in the loss of their rods, which were probably real serpents.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-21**
Moses is here ordered to deliver a dreadful message to Pharaoh. Providence ordered it, that Moses should have a man of such a fierce and stubborn spirit as this Pharaoh to deal with; and every thing made it a most signal instance of the power of God has to humble and bring down the proudest of his enemies. When God's justice threatens ruin, his mercy at the same time shows a w...
Read full commentary →As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go?
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 17 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **As yet exaltest thou thyself?**—Heb., *Dost* *thou still exalt,* or *oppose, thyself against My people?*—*i.e.,* Art thou not tired of the contest? Dost thou still, in thy folly, continue it?
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-21**
Moses is here ordered to deliver a dreadful message to Pharaoh. Providence ordered it, that Moses should have a man of such a fierce and stubborn spirit as this Pharaoh to deal with; and every thing made it a most signal instance of the power of God has to humble and bring down the proudest of his enemies. When God's justice threatens ruin, his mercy at the same time shows a w...
Read full commentary →Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 18 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **Such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof.**—Rain, and even hail, are not unknown at the present day in Lower Egypt, though they are, comparatively speaking, rare phenomena. Thunderstorms are especially uncommon, and when they occur are for the most part mild and harmless. A thunderstorm which killed a man in Thevenot’s time (*Voyages,* vol. i., p. 344) was regarded as mos...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. Pharaoh's heart is hardened--**Whatever might have been his first impressions, they were soon dispelled; and when he found his magicians making similar attempts, he concluded that Aaron's affair was a magical deception, the secret of which was not known to his wise men.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-21**
Moses is here ordered to deliver a dreadful message to Pharaoh. Providence ordered it, that Moses should have a man of such a fierce and stubborn spirit as this Pharaoh to deal with; and every thing made it a most signal instance of the power of God has to humble and bring down the proudest of his enemies. When God's justice threatens ruin, his mercy at the same time shows a w...
Read full commentary →Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 19 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **Gather thy cattle.**—The peculiar circumstances of Egypt, where the whole country was overflowed by the Nile during some months of each year, caused the provision of shelter for cattle to be abnormally great. Every year, at the time of the inundation, all the cattle had to be “gathered” into sheds and cattle-yards in the immediate vicinity of the villages and towns, which were protected fro...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**15. Get thee unto Pharaoh--**Now began those appalling miracles of judgment by which the God of Israel, through His ambassadors, proved His sole and unchallengeable supremacy over all the gods of Egypt, and which were the natural phenomena of Egypt, at an unusual season, and in a miraculous degree of intensity. The court of Egypt, whether held at Rameses, or Memphis, or Tanis in the field of Zoa...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-21**
Moses is here ordered to deliver a dreadful message to Pharaoh. Providence ordered it, that Moses should have a man of such a fierce and stubborn spirit as this Pharaoh to deal with; and every thing made it a most signal instance of the power of God has to humble and bring down the proudest of his enemies. When God's justice threatens ruin, his mercy at the same time shows a w...
Read full commentary →He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses:
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 20 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20, 21) **He that feared** . . . —*Some* impression, we see, had been made by the preceding plagues, and the warning was taken to some extent; but it was otherwise with many. So in Gospel times, “Some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not” (Acts 28:24). The result was death, both to the cattle and their keepers (Exodus 9:19). (Comp. Joshua 10:11.)
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-21**
Moses is here ordered to deliver a dreadful message to Pharaoh. Providence ordered it, that Moses should have a man of such a fierce and stubborn spirit as this Pharaoh to deal with; and every thing made it a most signal instance of the power of God has to humble and bring down the proudest of his enemies. When God's justice threatens ruin, his mercy at the same time shows a w...
Read full commentary →And he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field. regarded: Heb. set not his heart unto
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 21 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17-21. Aaron lifted up the rod and smote the waters, &c.--**Whether the water was changed into real blood, or only the appearance of it (and Omnipotence could effect the one as easily as the other), this was a severe calamity. How great must have been the disappointment and disgust throughout the land when the river became of a blood red color, of which they had a national abhorrence; their ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-21**
Moses is here ordered to deliver a dreadful message to Pharaoh. Providence ordered it, that Moses should have a man of such a fierce and stubborn spirit as this Pharaoh to deal with; and every thing made it a most signal instance of the power of God has to humble and bring down the proudest of his enemies. When God's justice threatens ruin, his mercy at the same time shows a w...
Read full commentary →And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Verse 22 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22) **Upon every herb of the field.**—The damage that hail can do to crops is well known, and has given rise among ourselves to a special form of insurance. Such a storm as that here described would necessarily have destroyed all vegetation that was more than a few inches high, and must have greatly injured shrubs and fruit-trees. (See Exodus 9:25; Exodus 9:31.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17-21. Aaron lifted up the rod and smote the waters, &c.--**Whether the water was changed into real blood, or only the appearance of it (and Omnipotence could effect the one as easily as the other), this was a severe calamity. How great must have been the disappointment and disgust throughout the land when the river became of a blood red color, of which they had a national abhorrence; their ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-35**
Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the ...
Read full commentary →And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 23 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **The fire ran along upon the ground.**—Heb., *fire walked earthwards.* Kalisch and Knobel understand by this mere ordinary lightning, but Aben-Ezra, Canon Cook, and others think that the phenomenon was such as our Version well expresses. There is no doubt that the electric fluid occasionally takes a form which has something of permanency, continuing several seconds, or even minutes, either s...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17-21. Aaron lifted up the rod and smote the waters, &c.--**Whether the water was changed into real blood, or only the appearance of it (and Omnipotence could effect the one as easily as the other), this was a severe calamity. How great must have been the disappointment and disgust throughout the land when the river became of a blood red color, of which they had a national abhorrence; their ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-35**
Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the ...
Read full commentary →So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 24 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(24) F**ire mingled with the hail.**—Heb., *a fire* *infolding itself in the midst of the hail.* (Comp. Ezekiel 1:4; and see the comment on Exodus 9:23.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17-21. Aaron lifted up the rod and smote the waters, &c.--**Whether the water was changed into real blood, or only the appearance of it (and Omnipotence could effect the one as easily as the other), this was a severe calamity. How great must have been the disappointment and disgust throughout the land when the river became of a blood red color, of which they had a national abhorrence; their ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-35**
Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the ...
Read full commentary →And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 25 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(25) **The hail . . . brake every tree of the field.**—What is meant is, not that the hail “brake the mightiest trees to fragments” (Millington, *Plagues of Egypt,* p. 135), but that it broke off the small boughs and twigs, so damaging the trees and, if they were fruit-trees, destroying the prospect of fruit.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17-21. Aaron lifted up the rod and smote the waters, &c.--**Whether the water was changed into real blood, or only the appearance of it (and Omnipotence could effect the one as easily as the other), this was a severe calamity. How great must have been the disappointment and disgust throughout the land when the river became of a blood red color, of which they had a national abhorrence; their ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-35**
Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the ...
Read full commentary →Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail.
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 26 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**22. And the magicians ... did so with their enchantments, &c.--**Little or no pure water could be procured, and therefore their imitation must have been on a small scale--the only drinkable water available being dug among the sands. It must have been on a sample or specimen of water dyed red with some coloring matter. But it was sufficient to serve as a pretext or command for the king to tur...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-35**
Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the ...
Read full commentary →And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 27 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(27) **Pharaoh sent.**—It is evident that the Pharaoh was more impressed by this plague than by any preceding one. This may have been partly because it caused destruction of human life, partly on account of its extraordinary and awful character. It must be borne in mind that the storm was still continuing, and gave no sign of coming to a natural end (Exodus 9:29; Exodus 9:33).
**I have sinned this...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-35**
Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the ...
Read full commentary →Intreat the LORD (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer. mighty: Heb. voices of God
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 28 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-35**
Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the ...
Read full commentary →And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD'S.
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 29 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(29) **That thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord’s.**—Comp, Exodus 9:15. It was the general belief of the Egyptians, as of most ancient nations, that each country had its own god or gods. Pharaoh had already admitted Jehovah’s power (Exodus 8:8), and now regarded Him as the God of the Hebrews (Exodus 8:28). God desired to have it generally acknowledged that He was the God of the whole e...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-35**
Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the ...
Read full commentary →But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God.
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 30 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-35**
Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the ...
Read full commentary →And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled.
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 31 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(31) **The flax and the barley was smitten.**—Flax was grown largely in Egypt, since linen garments were very generally worn by the people, and were the necessary attire of the priests (Herod. ii. 37). Mummies also were swathed in linen bandages (Herod. ii. 86); and soldiers wore linen corselets (Herod. ii. 182, 3:47). Barley was grown as food for horses, as an element in the manufacture of beer, ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 8 Ex 8:1-15. Plague of Frogs.
**1. the Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh--**The duration of the first plague for a whole week must have satisfied all that it was produced not by any accidental causes, but by the agency of omnipotent power. As a judgment of God, however, it produced no good effect, and Moses was commanded to wait on the king and threaten him, in the event of his conti...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-35**
Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the ...
Read full commentary →But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up. not grown: Heb. hidden or, dark
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 32 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(32) **The wheat and the rie.**—“Rie,” or rye, is a wrong translation. It is a grain which has never been grown in Egypt. The only three kinds of grain cultivated were wheat, barley, and the *holcus sorghum,* or *doora.* There is no doubt that this last is intended by the Hebrew *cussemeth,* which is a word derived from the Egyptian. The wheat is a full month later than the barley in Egypt, and do...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. I will smite all thy borders with frogs--**Those animals, though the natural spawn of the river, and therefore objects familiar to the people, were on this occasion miraculously multiplied to an amazing extent, and it is probable that the ova of the frogs, which had been previously deposited in the mire and marshes, were miraculously brought to perfection at once.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-35**
Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the ...
Read full commentary →And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the LORD: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth.
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 33 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(33) **Moses went out of the city . . . and spread abroad his hands.**—Moses did not fear the storm. Though it still raged, he quitted the shelter of the city, and went out into the midst of it, and spread out his hands to God, when lo! at once the rain, and hail, and thunder ceased at his bidding, and soon “there was a great calm.” As Millington observes—“Moses knew that he was safe, though all a...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. bedchamber ... bed--**mats strewed on the floor as well as more sumptuous divans of the rich.
**ovens--**holes made in the ground and the sides of which are plastered with mortar.
**kneading-troughs--**Those used in Egypt were bowls of wicker or rush work. What must have been the state of the people when they could find no means of escape from the cold, damp touch and unsightly presence o...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-35**
Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the ...
Read full commentary →And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 34 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(34) **Pharaoh . . . sinned yet more, and hardened his heart.**—As Pharaoh had never been so much moved previously, so it now required a greater effort of his will to “harden his heart” than it had ever done before; and thus he now “sinned yet more” than he had as yet sinned. It seems strange that the mercy of God should still have allowed him one other chance (Exodus 10:3-6).
Ellicott's Comment...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-35**
Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the ...
Read full commentary →And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses. by Moses: Heb. by the hand of Moses
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KJV Study Commentary
Verse 35 describes the plague of hail with fire, targeting Nut (sky goddess) and Seth (storm god). This unprecedented storm combines hail and fire, destroying crops and livestock left in fields. God reveals 'there is none like me in all the earth' (v.14).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5-6. Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, &c. The miracle consisted in the reptiles leaving their marshes at the very time he commanded them.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-35**
Woful havoc this hail made: it killed both men and cattle; the corn above ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet was not come up. The land of Goshen was preserved. God causes rain or hail on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment. Pharaoh humbled himself to Moses. No man could have spoken better: he owns himself wrong; he owns that the ...
Read full commentary →