BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Exodus 9 — Five More Plagues: Murrain, Boils, and Hail
Exodus 9 contains three plagues — murrain on livestock (vv. 1–7), boils from furnace ashes (vv. 8–12), and a destructive hailstorm (vv. 13–35) — each underscoring that the LORD distinguishes His own from the Egyptians.
Scripture
1Then Jehovah said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
2For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,
3behold, the hand of Jehovah is upon thy cattle which are in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the herds, and upon the flocks: there shall be a very grievous murrain.
4And Jehovah shall make a distinction between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt; and there shall nothing die of all that belongeth to the children of Israel.
5And Jehovah appointed a set time, saying, To-morrow Jehovah shall do this thing in the land.
6And Jehovah 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.
7And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not so much as one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was stubborn, and he did not let the people go.
8And Jehovah said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.
9And it shall become small dust over 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.
10And 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.
11And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boils were upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.
12And Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as Jehovah had spoken unto Moses.
13And Jehovah said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
14For I will this time send all my plagues upon thy heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.
15For now I had put forth my hand, and smitten thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou hadst been cut off from the earth:
16but in very deed for this cause have I made thee to stand, to show thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
17As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go?
18Behold, to-morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the day it was founded even until now.
19Now therefore send, hasten in thy cattle and all that thou hast in the field; for every man and beast that shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die.
20He that feared the word of Jehovah among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses:
21and he that regarded not the word of Jehovah left his servants and his cattle in the field.
22And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch forth thy 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.
23And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and Jehovah sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down unto the earth; and Jehovah rained hail upon the land of Egypt.
24So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
25And 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.
26Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail.
27And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: Jehovah is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
28Entreat Jehovah; for there hath been enough of these mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.
29And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto Jehovah; the thunders shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know that the earth is Jehovah's.
30But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear Jehovah God.
31And the flax and the barley were smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bloom.
32But the wheat and the spelt were not smitten: for they were not grown up.
33And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto Jehovah: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth.
34And 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.
35And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the children of Israel go; as Jehovah had spoken by Moses.
What this passage means
The chapter divides into three plague narratives plus a divine speech that reveals the theological purpose of the contest. The first two cycles have ended with Pharaoh hardening his own heart; here the text alternates between statements that Pharaoh's heart remained stubborn (vv. 7, 12) and the more disturbing note in v. 12 that the LORD hardened it. The shift is significant: the verb changes from the same-rooted מָאֵן ("refuse," v. 2) to a divine action that prevents any change of course, framing Pharaoh's refusal as something the narrative attributes ultimately to God.
The fifth and sixth plagues target bodies — animal and human. The murrain (v. 3) singles out Egyptian livestock while sparing Israel's, using the verb הִפְלָה ("make a distinction," v. 4) that recurs at 11:7 and 10:23 to mark God's people. The boils, produced from ashes flung heavenward before Pharaoh (vv. 8–10), are introduced with the word שְׁחִין ("boil"), the very affliction later catalogued in Deuteronomy 28:27. Even Pharaoh's magicians cannot stand before Moses this time (v. 11); their impotence against a priestly sign closes off the option of imitation.
The seventh plague is the chapter's longest unit and its theological climax. God announces that He has kept Pharaoh standing "to show" His power and declare His name in all the earth (v. 16). The hail is preceded by an offer of mercy — Egyptians who fear the word of the LORD shelter their livestock (v. 20). After the storm, Pharaoh confesses, "I have sinned this time; Jehovah is righteous, and I and my people are wicked" (v. 27), yet once relief comes he hardens his heart again (v. 34). The chapter ends where the previous ones ended: Pharaoh refuses to release Israel (v. 35).
Context
Exodus 9 follows the fourth plague (flies, ch. 8) and precedes the eighth and ninth (locusts and darkness, ch. 10) and the climactic tenth plague (ch. 11). The chapter provides no broader narrative outside the verses supplied; nothing in the supplied material places it geographically or historically. Verses 26 and 9:4 belong to a recurring pattern in which Goshen is set apart, a motif that the cross-references echo in 8:22 and 11:7. The concluding note in v. 35, "as Jehovah had spoken by Moses," signals that the next confrontation is inevitable. The curated chapter note offers no additional commentary beyond a backfill marker.
Because the supplied curated_note contains no commentary and full_chapter is empty, only the verses themselves, the cross-references list, and the chapter setting can be drawn on. The hailstorm language ("fire ran down unto the earth," v. 23) anticipates Joshua 10:11, one of the supplied cross-references, while the hardening theme (v. 12) is anchored by the supplied reference to Exodus 4:21 and reinforced by Romans 9:17's quotation of v. 16.
Key words in the original
- H3027 יָד ("hand"). In v. 3 the phrase "the hand of Jehovah is upon thy cattle" presents the plague not as a distant decree but as the LORD's direct grip. The same noun governs the rod-stretching episodes in v. 22 ("stretch forth thy hand toward heaven") and the final intercessory gesture in v. 29 ("spread abroad my hands unto Jehovah"), so the chapter frames judgment and prayer through the same body-part vocabulary.
- H7971 שָׁלַח ("let go / send away"). The verb dominates v. 1, "Let my people go, that they may serve me," and is then negated by מָאֵן ("refuse," v. 2). Its repetition across the plague cycle shows that every blow is aimed not at destroying Egypt but at moving Pharaoh to release Israel — שָׁלַח is the verb whose completion the entire narrative is driving toward.
- H0430 אֱלֹהִים ("God"). V. 1 identifies the speaker as "Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews," and v. 30 calls Him "Jehovah God." The chapter thus uses the covenant name (יְהוָה) together with the generic divine title (אֱלֹהִים), binding the LORD's redemptive identity to His role as universal God over all the earth (cf. v. 14, "none like me in all the earth").
Related verses
- Romans 9:17 Paul quotes v. 16 almost verbatim — "For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee my power." The verse functions as Romans' interpretive key for Exodus 9: Pharaoh's resistance is the stage on which God's power and name become globally visible, and the chapter's hardening motif is read by Paul as serving that declarative purpose rather than as arbitrary punishment.
- Exodus 9:4 The intra-textual reference underscores the chapter's central refrain: the LORD "makes a distinction" (הִפְלָה) between Israelite and Egyptian livestock. The same verb anchors 8:22 (flies) and 11:7 (the Passover), so the plague narrative is built on a series of separations in which God's people are visibly shielded, not merely spared incidentally.
- Deuteronomy 28:27 The boil that descends on Egypt in vv. 8–11 uses the noun שְׁחִין, which Deuteronomy 28:27 lists among the covenant curses that will fall on a disobedient Israel. The lexical link suggests that the plagues against Egypt are not random calamities but are drawn from the same catalogue of afflictions that Israel's covenant exposes Israel itself to — making the plagues both a warning and an indictment.
Common questions
Why does the text say both that Pharaoh hardened his heart and that the LORD hardened his heart?
The chapter alternates between the two. In vv. 7 and 34 Pharaoh and his servants harden their own hearts; in vv. 12 and 35 the hardening is attributed to the LORD. The narrative presents both perspectives without resolving the tension: human refusal is real, yet the chapter's theological climax (v. 16) places Pharaoh within a larger purpose the LORD is carrying out. The supplied cross-reference to Romans 9:17 shows one later tradition reading this dual language as Pharaoh raised up to display God's power.
How does Goshen fit into Exodus 9?
Goshen appears twice in the chapter. In v. 4 it is implicit: no animal belonging to Israel dies, while all Egyptian livestock perishes. In v. 26 the separation becomes explicit — in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail. The cross-references to Exodus 8:22 and 11:7 show that Goshen's exemption is a recurring motif, a visible marker that the plagues are acts of judgment against Egypt rather than indiscriminate natural disasters.
Is Pharaoh's confession in v. 27 genuine repentance?
The text calls it a confession of sin ("I have sinned this time") but the next plague cycle shows its limits. The chapter itself reports that once the rain, hail, and thunder cease, Pharaoh "sinned yet more, and hardened his heart" (v. 34). Within the supplied material there is no indication of lasting repentance; the chapter ends with the same refusal to release Israel (v. 35) that opened it.