The fifth plague is a murrain among the cattle. The sixth, of boils in
men and beasts. The seventh, of hail. Pharao promiseth again to let the
people go, and breaketh his word.
9:1. And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao, and speak to him:
Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to sacrifice
to me.
9:2. But if thou refuse, and withhold them still:
9:3. Behold my hand shall be upon thy fields; and a very grievous
murrain upon thy horses, and asses, and camels, and oxen, and sheep.
9:4. And the Lord will make a wonderful difference between the
possessions of Israel and the possessions of the Egyptians, that
nothing at all shall die of those things that belong to the children of
Israel.
9:5. And the Lord appointed a time, saying: To morrow will the Lord do
this thing in the land.
9:6. The Lord therefore did this thing the next day: and all the beasts
of the Egyptians died, but of the beasts of the children of Israel
there died not one.
All the beasts.... That is, many of all kinds.
9:7. And Pharao sent to see; and there was not any thing dead of that
which Israel possessed. And Pharao’s heart was hardened, and he did not
let the people go.
9:8. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Take to you handfuls of
ashes out of the chimney, and let Moses sprinkle it in the air in the
presence of Pharao.
9:9. And be there dust upon all the land of Egypt: for there shall be
boils and swelling blains both in men and beasts, in the whole land of
Egypt.
9:10. And they took ashes out of the chimney, and stood before Pharao,
and Moses sprinkled it in the air; and there came boils with swelling
blains in men and beasts.
9:11. Neither could the magicians stand before Moses, for the boils
that were upon them, and in all the land of Egypt.
9:12. And the Lord hardened Pharao’s heart, and he hearkened not unto
them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
Hardened, etc.... See the annotations above, chap. 4.21, chap. 7.3, and
chap. 8.15.
9:13. And the Lord said to Moses: Arise in the morning, and stand
before Pharao, and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord, the God
of the Hebrews: Let my people go to sacrifice to me.
9:14. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thy heart, and
upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayst know that there
is none like me in all the earth.
9:15. For now I will stretch out my hand to strike thee, and thy
people, with pestilence, and thou shalt perish from the earth.
9:16. And therefore have I raised thee, that I may shew my power in
thee, and my name may be spoken of throughout all the earth.
9:17. Dost thou yet hold back my people; and wilt thou not let them go?
9:18. Behold I will cause it to rain to morrow at this same hour, an
exceeding great hail; such as hath not been in Egypt from the day that
it was founded, until this present time.
9:19. Send therefore now presently, and gather together thy cattle, and
all that thou hast in the field; for men and beasts, and all things
that shall be found abroad, and not gathered together out of the fields
which the hail shall fall upon, shall die.
9:20. He that feared the word of the Lord among Pharao’s servants, made
his servants and his cattle flee into houses:
9:21. But he that regarded not the word of the Lord, left his servants,
and his cattle in the fields.
9:22. And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth thy hand towards
heaven, that there may be hail in the whole land of Egypt upon men, and
upon beasts, and upon every herb of the field in the land of Egypt.
9:23. And Moses stretched forth his rod towards heaven, and the Lord
sent thunder and hail, and lightnings running along the ground: and the
Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt.
9:24. And the hail and fire mixt with it drove on together: and it was
of so great bigness, as never before was seen in the whole land of
Egypt since that nation was founded.
9:25. And the hail destroyed through all the land of Egypt all things
that were in the fields, both man and beast: and the hail smote every
herb of the field, and it broke every tree of the country.
9:26. Only in the land of Gessen, where the children of Israel were,
the hail fell not.
9:27. And Pharao sent and called Moses and Aaron, saying to them: I
have sinned this time also, the Lord is just: I and my people, are
wicked.
9:28. Pray ye to the Lord that the thunderings of God and the hail may
cease: that I may let you go, and that ye may stay here no longer.
9:29. Moses said: As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will stretch
forth my hands to the Lord, and the thunders shall cease, and the hail
shall be no more: that thou mayst know that the earth is the Lord’s:
9:30. But I know that neither thou, nor thy servants do yet fear the
Lord God.
9:31. The flax therefore, and the barley were hurt, because the barley
was green, and the flax was now bolled;
9:32. But the wheat, and other winter corn were not hurt, because they
were lateward.
9:33. And when Moses was gone from Pharao out of the city, he stretched
forth his hands to the Lord: and the thunders and the hail ceased,
neither did there drop any more rain upon the earth.
9:34. And Pharao seeing that the rain, and the hail, and the thunders
were ceased, increased his sin:
9:35. And his heart was hardened, and the heart of his servants, and it
was made exceeding hard: neither did he let the children of Israel go,
as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses.