Exodus 9:15
in Exodus 9For by this time I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the earth.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For now I had put forth my hand, and smitten thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou hadst been cut off from the earth:
KJV
For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.
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This verse in Exodus 9
Commentary
4 notes on this verseFor now I will stretch out my hand - In the Hebrew the verbs are in the past tense, and not in the future, as our translation improperly expresses them, by which means a contradiction appears in the text: for neither Pharaoh nor his people were smitten by a pestilence, nor was he by any kind of mortality cut off from the earth. It is true the first-born were slain by a destroying angel, and Pharaoh himself was drowned in the Red Sea; but these judgments do not appear to be referred to in this place.
This site's exposition
For now I will stretch out my hand
The verse describes a stroke that was available and was not used, since a pestilence that cut Pharaoh off from the earth would have ended the contest in one morning. John Calvin reads the delay as forbearance rather than weakness, and the pacing is what verse 16 then explains. Egypt gets nine warnings before the night of the firstborn.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
For now will I stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence,....
"Now I will send all my plagues. " Now that no place is found for repentance in Pharaoh, nothing can prevent his utter destruction, for that only would have prevented it. Now that God begins to harden his heart, his case is desperate.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
FOR. Scripture reads, all My plagues because thunder, hail, rain, and fire combined in this plague.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| עַתָּה֙ | ʾatah | now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| שָׁלַ֣חְתִּי | shalachti | I stretched out | H7971 → | 845 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יָדִ֔י | yadi | hand my | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| וָאַ֥ךְ | vaakh | and I struck | H5221 → | 499 times |
| אוֹתְךָ֛ | ʾotkha | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
| וְאֶֽת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עַמְּךָ֖ | ʾamekha | people your | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| בַּדָּ֑בֶר | badaver | with <the> pestilence | H1698 → | 49 times |
| וַתִּכָּחֵ֖ד | vatikached | and you were destroyed | H3582 → | |
| מִן־ | min- | from | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| הָאָֽרֶץ׃ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
עַתָּה֙now
ʾatahH6258 →433 times
שָׁלַ֣חְתִּיI stretched out
shalachtiH7971 →845 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יָדִ֔יhand my
yadiH3027 →1618 times
וָאַ֥ךְand I struck
vaakhH5221 →499 times
אוֹתְךָ֛<obj.> you
ʾotkhaH853 →10935 times
וְאֶֽת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
עַמְּךָ֖people your
ʾamekhaH5971 →1873 times
בַּדָּ֑בֶרwith <the> pestilence
badaverH1698 →49 times
וַתִּכָּחֵ֖דand you were destroyed
vatikachedH3582 →
מִן־from
min-H4480 →1188 times
הָאָֽרֶץ׃the earth
haaretzH776 →2504 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 9:16But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
it leads to
- Romans 9:17
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
- Proverbs 16:4
The LORD has made everything for His purpose—even the wicked for the day of disaster.
- Psalms 83:17–18
May they be ever ashamed and terrified; may they perish in disgrace.
- Psalms 64:9
Then all mankind will fear and proclaim the work of God; so they will ponder what He has done.
- Romans 9:17
Through
Proverbs 2:22but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted.
it leads to
- Psalms 52:5
Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
- Isaiah 3:10–11
Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
- Deuteronomy 7:22
The LORD your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be enabled to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals would multiply around you.
- Psalms 52:5
Through
Exodus 3:20So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them. And after that, he will release you.
it leads to
- Acts 7:36
He led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness.
- Acts 7:36
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.