Exodus 9:18–26

9:18 I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down37 about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred38 in Egypt from the day it was founded39 until now. 9:19 So now, send instructions40 to gather41 your livestock and all your possessions in the fields to a safe place. Every person42 or animal caught43 in the field and not brought into the house—the hail will come down on them, and they will die!” ’ ”

9:20 Those44 of Pharaoh’s servants who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their45 servants and livestock into the houses, 9:21 but those46 who did not take47 the word of the Lord seriously left their servants and their cattle48 in the field.

9:22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward the sky49 that there may be50 hail in all the land of Egypt, on people and on animals,51 and on everything that grows52 in the field in the land of Egypt.” 9:23 When Moses extended53 his staff toward the sky, the Lord54 sent thunder55 and hail, and fire fell to the earth;56 so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt. 9:24 Hail fell57 and fire mingled58 with the hail; the hail was so severe59 that there had not been any like it60 in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. 9:25 The hail struck everything in the open fields, both61 people and animals, throughout all the land of Egypt. The hail struck everything that grows62 in the field, and it broke all the trees of the field to pieces. 9:26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was there no hail.

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37	tn הִנְנִי מַמְטִיר (hinéni mamtir) is the futur instans construction, giving an imminent future translation: “Here—I am about to cause it to rain.”
38	tn Heb “which not was like it in Egypt.” The pronoun suffix serves as the resumptive pronoun for the relative particle: “which … like it” becomes “the like of which has not been.” The word “hail” is added in the translation to make clear the referent of the relative particle.
39	tn The form הִוָּסְדָה (hivvasdah) is perhaps a rare Niphal perfect and not an infinitive (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 117).
40	tn The object “instructions” is implied in the context.
41	tn הָעֵז (ha’ez) is the Hiphil imperative from עוּז (’uz, “to bring into safety” or “to secure”). Although there is no vav (ו) linking the two imperatives, the second could be subordinated by virtue of the meanings. “Send to bring to safety.”
42	tn Heb “man, human.”
43	tn Heb “[who] may be found.” The verb can be the imperfect of possibility.
44	tn The text has “the one fearing.” The singular expression here and throughout vv. 20–21 refers to all who fit the description.
45	tn Heb “his” (singular).
46	tn The Hebrew text again has the singular.
47	tn Heb “put to his heart.”
48	tn Heb “his servants and his cattle.”
49	tn Or “the heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
50	tn The jussive with the conjunction (וִיהִי, vihi) coming after the imperative provides the purpose or result.
51	tn Heb “on man and on beast.”
52	tn The noun refers primarily to cultivated grains. But here it seems to be the general heading for anything that grows from the ground, all vegetation and plant life, as opposed to what grows on trees.
53	tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next clause in view of the emphasis put on the subject, Yahweh, by the disjunctive word order of that clause.
54	tn By starting the clause with the subject (an example of disjunctive word order) the text is certainly stressing that Yahweh alone did this.
55	tn The expression נָתַן קֹלֹת (natan qolot) literally means “gave voices” (also “voice”). This is a poetic expression for sending the thunder. Ps 29:3 talks about the “voice of Yahweh”—the God of glory thunders!
56	sn This clause has been variously interpreted. Lightning would ordinarily accompany thunder; in this case the mention of fire could indicate that the lightning was beyond normal and that it was striking in such a way as to start fires on the ground. It could also mean that fire went along the ground from the pounding hail.
57	tn The verb is the common preterite וַיְהִי (vayéhi), which is normally translated “and there was” if it is translated at all. The verb הָיָה (hayah), however, can mean “be, become, befall, fall, fall out, happen.” Here it could be simply translated “there was hail,” but the active “hail fell” fits the point of the sequence better.
58	tn The form מִתְלַקַּחַת (mitlaqqakhat) is a Hitpael participle; the clause reads, “and fire taking hold of itself in the midst of the hail.” This probably refers to lightning flashing back and forth. See also Ezek 1:4. God created a great storm with flashing fire connected to it.
59	tn Heb “very heavy” or “very severe.” The subject “the hail” is implied.
60	tn A literal reading of the clause would be “which there was not like it in all the land of Egypt.” The relative pronoun must be joined to the resumptive pronoun: “which like it (like which) there had not been.”
61	tn The exact expression is “from man even to beast.” R. J. Williams lists this as an example of the inclusive use of the preposition מִן (min) to be rendered “both … and” (Hebrew Syntax, 57, §327).
62	tn Heb “all the cultivated grain of.”

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