Exodus 9:13-35

The Plague of Hail

13 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me,
14 or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.
15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.
16 But I have raised you up[a] for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
17 You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go.
18 Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now.
19 Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every person and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.’ ”
20 Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the LORD hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside.
21 But those who ignored the word of the LORD left their slaves and livestock in the field.
22 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that hail will fall all over Egypt—on people and animals and on everything growing in the fields of Egypt.”
23 When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt;
24 hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.
25 Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—both people and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree.
26 The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were.
27 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said to them. “The LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.
28 Pray to the LORD, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.”
29 Moses replied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the LORD. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the LORD’s.
30 But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the LORD God.”
31 (The flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley had headed and the flax was in bloom.
32 The wheat and spelt, however, were not destroyed, because they ripen later.)
33 Then Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He spread out his hands toward the LORD; the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the land.
34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts.
35 So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.

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.

Cross References 26

  • 1. S Exodus 3:18; Exodus 8:20
  • 2. S Exodus 8:10
  • 3. Exodus 15:11; 1 Samuel 2:2; 2 Samuel 7:22; 1 Kings 8:23; 1 Chronicles 17:20; Psalms 35:10; Psalms 71:19; Psalms 86:8; Psalms 89:6; Isaiah 46:9; Jeremiah 10:6; Micah 7:18
  • 4. Exodus 3:20
  • 5. Proverbs 16:4
  • 6. Ex 14:4,17,31; Psalms 20:6; Psalms 25:11; Psalms 68:28; Psalms 71:18; Psalms 106:8; Psalms 109:21; Romans 9:17*
  • 7. ver 23; Joshua 10:11; Psalms 78:47-48; Psalms 105:32; Psalms 148:8; Isaiah 30:30; Ezekiel 38:22; Haggai 2:17
  • 8. ver 24; Exodus 10:6
  • 9. Proverbs 13:13
  • 10. S Genesis 19:14; Ezekiel 33:4-5
  • 11. Exodus 20:18; 1 Samuel 7:10; 1 Samuel 12:17; Psalms 18:13; Psalms 29:3; Psalms 68:33; Psalms 77:17; Psalms 104:7
  • 12. S ver 18; Joshua 10:11; Psalms 78:47; Psalms 105:32; Isaiah 30:30; Ezekiel 38:22; Revelation 8:7; Revelation 16:21
  • 13. S ver 18
  • 14. Psalms 105:32-33; Ezekiel 13:13
  • 15. S ver 4; Isaiah 32:18-20
  • 16. Exodus 8:22; Exodus 10:23; Exodus 11:7; Exodus 12:13; Amos 4:7
  • 17. ver 34; Exodus 10:16; Numbers 14:40; Deuteronomy 1:41; Joshua 7:11; Judges 10:10; 1 Samuel 15:24; 1 Samuel 24:17; 1 Samuel 26:21
  • 18. 2 Chronicles 12:6; Psalms 11:7; Psalms 116:5; Psalms 119:137; Psalms 129:4; Psalms 145:17; Jeremiah 12:1; Lamentations 1:18
  • 19. Exodus 8:8; Acts 8:24; Exodus 10:17
  • 20. S Exodus 8:8
  • 21. ver 33; 1 Kings 8:22,38; Job 11:13; Psalms 77:2; Psalms 88:9; Psalms 143:6; Isaiah 1:15
  • 22. Exodus 19:5; Job 41:11; Psalms 24:1; Psalms 50:12; 1 Corinthians 10:26
  • 23. S Exodus 8:29
  • 24. Deuteronomy 8:8; Ruth 1:22; Ruth 2:23; 2 Samuel 14:30; 2 Samuel 17:28; Isaiah 28:25; Ezekiel 4:9; Joel 1:11
  • 25. Isaiah 28:25
  • 26. S Exodus 4:21

Footnotes 1

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