Exodus 9:16

16 But it is for this very reason that I have kept you alive -to show you my power, and so that my name may resound throughout the whole earth.

Exodus 9:16 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 9:16

And in very deed, for this cause have I raised thee up
Or but truly or verily F3; instead of smiting thee with the pestilence, and cutting thee off out of the land of the living, "I have raised thee up"; made thee to stand F4, to continue in being; I have preserved thine from perishing by the former plagues, and have reserved thee for greater judgments and sorer punishments. It may take in all that God did to him; the constitution and appointment of him to all this in his eternal mind; his bringing him into being, and raising him up to kingly dignity; preserving him from perishing by the pestilence, boils and blains, and keeping him for future evils, and all upon this account for the following reasons: for to shew in thee my power;
in working miracles, inflicting judgments one after another, and especially in destroying him and his host in the Red sea: and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth;
as it has been more by that last action than by all the rest of the plagues; though, in all, his sovereignty, wisdom, power, patience, longsuffering, and justice, are most visibly displayed and glorified.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 (Mlwaw) "veruntamen", Junius & Tremellius, Psicator, Drusius, Fagius; so Ainsworth.
F4 (Kytdmeh) "stare fecite", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.

Exodus 9:16 In-Context

14 For this time, I will inflict my plagues on you, yourself, and on your officials and your people; so that you will realize that I am without equal in all the earth.
15 By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with such severe plagues that you would have been wiped off the earth.
16 But it is for this very reason that I have kept you alive -to show you my power, and so that my name may resound throughout the whole earth.
17 Since you are still setting yourself up against my people and not letting them go,
18 tomorrow, about this time, I will cause a hailstorm so heavy that Egypt has had nothing like it from the day it was founded until now.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.