Exodus 9:4

4 But Yahweh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and not a thing will die from all [that belongs] to the {Israelites}.'"

Exodus 9:4 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 9:4

And the Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the
cattle of Egypt
Make such a difference and distinction between them, that the murrain should not be on the one, when it was on the other, and which was a very marvellous thing; and especially in the land of Goshen, where the Egyptians had much cattle, and Pharaoh himself, see ( Genesis 47:6 ) and yet, though the cattle of Israel breathed in the same air, drank of the same water, and fed in the same pastures, they had not the murrain as the cattle of Egypt had; and the word here used signifies a marvellous separation, as has been observed on ( Exodus 7:22 ) : and there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel;
not an horse, nor an ass, nor an ox, nor a sheep.

Exodus 9:4 In-Context

2 But if you [are] refusing to release and you still [are] keeping hold of them,

3 look, the hand of Yahweh [is] about to be [present with] a very {severe} plague on your livestock that are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the cattle, and on the sheep and goats.

4 But Yahweh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and not a thing will die from all [that belongs] to the {Israelites}.'"

5 And Yahweh set an appointed time, saying, "Tomorrow Yahweh will do this thing in the land."

6 And Yahweh did this thing the next day; all the livestock of Egypt died, but from the livestock of the {Israelites} not one died.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"