The Fifth Plague: Livestock Die
Exodus 9:1-7
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Exo.9.1 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אל: NEG
- משה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- אל: NEG
- פרעה: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ודברת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- אליו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- כה: ADV
- אמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהי: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- העברים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- שלח: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- עמי: NOUN,m,sg,abs+1s
- ויעבדני: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg,obj1
Parallels
- Exod.5.1 (verbal): Earlier identical proclamation: Moses (and Aaron) tell Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go,” matching the same formula and demand.
- Exod.7.16 (verbal): Prior plague-introduction formula: God instructs Moses to say to Pharaoh, ‘The LORD God of the Hebrews has sent me… Let my people go,’ nearly identical wording and function.
- Exod.8.1 (structural): Another plague command with the same pattern — the LORD tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and deliver the demand that Israel be let go to serve God; shows recurring prophetic commission.
- Exod.10.1 (thematic): God again charges Moses to confront Pharaoh (‘Go in unto Pharaoh…’), here adding the motif of God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and the progressive escalation of demands and signs.
- Exod.9.13 (structural): Same narrative formula (‘And the LORD said unto Moses…’) introducing further instructions concerning Pharaoh and the plagues; highlights the repeated divine-to-Moses commission structure throughout the plague sequence.
Alternative generated candidates
- And YHWH said to Moses, 'Go to Pharaoh and speak to him: Thus says YHWH, the God of the Hebrews: Send my people, that they may serve me.
Exo.9.2 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- אם: CONJ
- מאן: PRON,interrog
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- לשלח: VERB,qal,infc,_,_,_
- ועודך: CONJ+ADV+PRON,2,m,sg
- מחזיק: VERB,qal,ptc,m,sg
- בם: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Exodus 5:2 (quotation): Pharaoh's direct challenge 'Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice?' parallels the same questioning of Yahweh's authority and refusal to let Israel go.
- Exodus 8:32 (structural): After the plague of frogs Pharaoh 'hardened his heart and did not let the people go'—repeats the pattern of stubborn refusal found in 9:2.
- Exodus 9:34–35 (thematic): Following the plague of boils Pharaoh again hardens his heart and refuses to release Israel; continues the theme of persistent resistance to God's demand.
- Exodus 10:3 (verbal): Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh with 'How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself?'—a later, explicit rebuke of the same refusal to let God's people go.
Alternative generated candidates
- For if you refuse to send, and you still hold them,
Exo.9.3 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הנה: PART
- יד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- הויה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- במקנך: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs,2ms
- אשר: PRON,rel
- בשדה: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בסוסים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- בחמרים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- בגמלים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- בבקר: PREP
- ובצאן: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- דבר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כבד: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- מאד: ADV
Parallels
- Exod.9.4 (verbal): Same plague narrative; explicitly states the LORD will make a distinction between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt, directly connected to the threat against Egyptian livestock in 9:3.
- Exod.9.6 (verbal): Immediate narrative fulfillment: “all the cattle of the Egyptians died,” the direct result of the grievous murrain foretold in 9:3.
- Exod.9.19-21 (structural): Warning to bring in livestock and shelter them because the next day God will smite the cattle in the field—same structural moment addressing animals in the field as in 9:3.
- Deut.28:18-22 (thematic): Part of the covenant curses—divine-sent diseases and blights that affect people’s land and animals; parallels the motif of God inflicting pestilence on livestock as judgment.
- Job 1:14-17 (thematic): Account of sudden loss of a man’s oxen, asses and servants in hostile raids and a fire—parallels the theme of large-scale destruction of livestock as divinely-permitted calamity or judgment/testing.
Alternative generated candidates
- behold, the hand of YHWH is coming upon your livestock that are in the field—on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the cattle, and on the sheep—a pestilence very heavy.
Exo.9.4 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והפלה: VERB,hiph,perf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- בין: PREP
- מקנה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובין: CONJ+PREP
- מקנה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מצרים: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- ימות: VERB,qal,juss,3,m,sg
- מכל: PREP
- לבני: PREP
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- דבר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Exodus 8:22-23 (verbal): Same motif and similar wording — God declares he will set a separation between his people (Goshen/Israel) and Egypt so that the plague (flies) will not affect the Israelites.
- Exodus 9:6-7 (structural): Immediate narrative parallel describing the effect promised in 9:4: Egyptian livestock die from the plague while the livestock of Israel are unharmed.
- Exodus 11:7 (thematic): Reiterates the theme that in the judgments on Egypt God will not touch the people of Israel (no Egyptian will rise against an Israelite), a broader statement of divine protection in the plagues cycle.
- Exodus 12:12-13 (allusion): Passover instruction: the blood on Israelite doorposts marks them to be passed over by the destroying plague — another mechanism showing divine distinction between Israel and Egypt.
- Deuteronomy 7:15 (thematic): Covenantal promise that the LORD will remove sickness from Israel’s midst — a later, generalized statement of divine protection echoing the specific separations seen in the Exodus plagues.
Alternative generated candidates
- And YHWH will distinguish between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing of all that belongs to the sons of Israel will die.
Exo.9.5 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- וישם: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- מועד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לאמר: INF,qal,infc
- מחר: ADV
- יעשה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- הדבר: NOUN,m,sg,def
- הזה: DEM,m,sg
- בארץ: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,def
Parallels
- Jonah 3:4 (thematic): A short, specific timetable for impending divine action—'Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown'—parallels the Exodus announcement that God will act on the next day.
- Daniel 9:24 (verbal): Uses language of fixed, divinely appointed periods ('seventy weeks are determined'), echoing the theme that God sets definite times for fulfillment of his purposes.
- Isaiah 46:10 (thematic): God declares the end from the beginning and brings his purposes to pass—connects to the Exodus motif of the LORD determining and declaring the time of his act.
- Acts 1:7 (thematic): Jesus' statement that the Father has fixed 'times or seasons' (kept in his own power) resonates with the Exodus emphasis on God's sovereign control over the timing of events.
- Amos 3:7 (allusion): 'Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets' relates to the pattern in Exodus of God revealing the time of forthcoming judgment to effect his plan.
Alternative generated candidates
- And YHWH set an appointed time, saying, Tomorrow YHWH will do this thing in the land.'
Exo.9.6 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויעש: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- את: PRT,acc
- הדבר: NOUN,m,sg,def
- הזה: DEM,m,sg
- ממחרת: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- וימת: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- כל: DET
- מקנה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מצרים: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- וממקנה: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בני: NOUN,m,pl,construct
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- מת: ADJ,m,sg
- אחד: NUM,card,m,sg
Parallels
- Exodus 9:4-5 (verbal): The promise that God would make a distinction between Egyptian livestock and Israel’s (’of the livestock of the children of Israel shall not die’) is stated immediately before the fulfillment recorded in 9:6.
- Exodus 9:26 (structural): Another instance in the plague cycle where Goshen/Israel is spared while Egypt suffers (the hail spares Goshen), showing the recurring structural theme of differential judgment.
- Exodus 12:12-13 (thematic): Passover instruction: God will strike the Egyptians but ‘pass over’ Israel — same theological theme of divine judgment on Egypt with preservation of Israel’s people and property.
- Psalm 78:45-51 (allusion): A poetic retelling of the Egyptian plagues that includes destruction of Egyptian livestock and emphasizes God’s judgment on Egypt and preservation of his people.
Alternative generated candidates
- And YHWH did this thing on the next day; and all the livestock of Egypt died, but from the livestock of the sons of Israel not one died.
Exo.9.7 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- וישלח: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- פרעה: NOUN,m,sg,def
- והנה: ADV
- לא: PART_NEG
- מת: ADJ,m,sg
- ממקנה: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עד: PREP
- אחד: NUM,card,m,sg
- ויכבד: VERB,hiph,perf,3,m,sg
- לב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- פרעה: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ולא: CONJ
- שלח: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- העם: NOUN,m,sg,def
Parallels
- Exod.9.4 (verbal): Immediate parallel within the same plague account: explicitly states that none of the Israelites' livestock died, repeating the distinction preserved in 9:7.
- Exod.8.22-23 (thematic): Earlier plague narrative where God distinguishes Goshen/Israel from Egypt and spares the Israelites while afflicting the Egyptians—same theme of covenantal protection.
- Exod.9.12 (verbal): Closely related verse that states the recurring formula that the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart—parallels the 9:7 clause about Pharaoh's hardened heart and refusal to let the people go.
- Exod.12.12-13 (thematic): Passover language of divine judgment on Egypt coupled with protection for Israel ('when I see the blood I will pass over you')—a broader theological parallel of separation and preservation in the face of plague.
Alternative generated candidates
- And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of the sons of Israel had died; and the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not send the people.
And YHWH said to Moses, 'Go to Pharaoh and speak to him: Thus says YHWH, the God of the Hebrews: Send my people, that they may serve me.'
'For if you refuse to send them, and you still keep hold of them,'
'behold, the hand of YHWH is coming upon your livestock that is in the field—on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herd and on the flock—with a very heavy pestilence.'
'And YHWH will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and not a thing that belongs to the sons of Israel shall die.' And YHWH set an appointed time, saying, 'Tomorrow YHWH will do this thing in the land.' And YHWH did this thing on the next day, and all the livestock of Egypt died; and from the livestock of the sons of Israel not one died. And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not even one from the livestock of Israel had died; and the heart of Pharaoh became heavy, and he did not send the people.