Exodus 9:13-35

The Seventh Plague: Hail

13 Then the LORD said to Moses, ¹"Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, "Let my people go, that they may serve me.

14 For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself,^[a] and on your servants and your people, so ²that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.

15 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth.

16 ³But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so ⁴that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

17 ⁵You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go.

18 Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

19 Now therefore send, ⁶get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them."'"

20 Then whoever feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses,

21 but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the LORD left his slaves and his livestock in the field.

22 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be ⁷hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant of the field, in the land of Egypt."

23 Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the ⁸LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

24 There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

25 The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail ⁹struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field.

26 ¹⁰Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.

27 Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, "This time ¹¹I have sinned; the ¹²LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.

28 ¹³Plead with the LORD, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer."

29 Moses said to him, "As soon as I have gone out of the city, ¹⁴I will stretch out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that ¹⁵the earth is the LORD's.

30 But as for you and your servants, ¹⁶I know that you do not yet fear the LORD God."

31 (The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud.

32 But the wheat and the emmer^[b] were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.)

33 So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and ¹⁷stretched out his hands to the LORD, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth.

34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and ¹⁸hardened his heart, ¹⁹he and his servants.

35 So ²⁰the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.

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Exodus 9:13-35 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 9

This chapter relates the plague of murrain upon the cattle, and which yet was not upon the cattle of the Israelites, Ex 9:1-7 and the plague of boils and blains on man and beast, Ex 9:8-11 and Pharaoh's heart being hardened, Moses is sent to him with a message from the Lord, threatening him that all his plagues should come upon him, and particularly the pestilence, if he would not let Israel go; and signifying, that to show his power in him, and declare his name throughout the earth, had he raised him up, and a kind of amazement is expressed at his obstinacy and pride, Ex 9:12-17, and he is told that a terrible storm of hail should fall upon the land, and destroy all in the field; wherefore those that regarded the word of the Lord got their cattle within doors, but those that did not took no care of them, Ex 9:18-21 and upon Moses's stretching out his hand, when ordered by the Lord, the storm began, and destroyed every thing in the field throughout the land, excepting the land of Goshen, Ex 9:22-26 upon which Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, acknowledged his sin, and the justice of God, begged they would entreat for him, which Moses did; but when the storm was over, Pharaoh's heart was still more hardened, and he refused to let the people go, Ex 9:27-35.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 20

1. Exodus 7:15; Exodus 8:20
2. Exodus 8:10
3. Cited Romans 9:17; [Exodus 10:1, 2; Exodus 11:9; Exodus 14:17; Proverbs 16:4]
4. [Psalms 83:18]; Isaiah 63:12
5. [Nehemiah 9:10]
6. [ver. 4]
7. Revelation 16:21
8. Psalms 78:47, 48; Psalms 105:32; [Joshua 10:11; 1 Samuel 12:17; Psalms 18:13; Psalms 148:8; Isaiah 30:30; Ezekiel 38:22; Revelation 8:7]
9. Psalms 78:47; Psalms 105:33
10. ver. 4, 6; Exodus 8:22; Exodus 10:23; Exodus 11:7; Exodus 12:13; [Isaiah 32:18]
11. Exodus 10:16
12. 2 Chronicles 12:6; Psalms 129:4; Psalms 145:17; Lamentations 1:18; Daniel 9:14
13. See Exodus 8:8
14. 1 Kings 8:22, 38; Psalms 143:6; Isaiah 1:15
15. Psalms 24:1; 1 Corinthians 10:26; [Deuteronomy 10:14]
16. Isaiah 26:10
17. [See ver. 29 above]
18. See Exodus 7:14
19. 1 Samuel 6:6
20. See Exodus 4:21

Footnotes 2

[a]. Hebrew on your heart
[b]. A type of wheat

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.