^9:3then the hand of the Lord will surely bring⁴ a very terrible plague⁵ on your livestock in the field, on the horses, the donkeys, the camels,⁶ the herds, and the flocks. ^9:4But the Lord will distinguish⁷ between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing⁸ will die of all that the Israelites have.” ’ ”⁹

^9:5The Lord set¹⁰ an appointed time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this¹¹ in the land.” ^9:6And the Lord did this¹² on the next day;¹³ all¹⁴ the livestock of the Egyptians¹⁵ died, but of the Israelites’ livestock not one died.

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Footnotes

4 The form used here is הוֹיָה (hoyah), the Qal active participle, feminine singular, from the verb “to be.” This is the only place in the OT that this form occurs. Ogden shows that this form is appropriate with the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) to stress impending divine action, and that it conforms to the pattern in these narratives where five times the participle is used in the threat to Pharaoh (7:17; 8:2; 9:3, 14; 10:4). See G. S. Ogden, “Notes on the Use of הויה in Exodus IX. 3,” 17 (1967): 483–84.
5 The word דֶּבֶר (dever) is usually translated “pestilence” when it applies to diseases for humans. It is used only here and in Ps 78:50 for animals.
6 The older view that camels were not domesticated at this time (S. R. Driver, Exodus, ; W. F. Albright, Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, 96; et. al.) has been corrected by more recently uncovered information (see K. A. Kitchen, NBD3 ).
7 The verb פָּלָה (palah) in Hiphil means “to set apart, make separate, make distinct.” See also Exod 8:22 (18 ); 11:7; 33:16.
8 There is a wordplay in this section. A pestilence—דֶּבֶר (dever)—will fall on Egypt’s cattle, but no thing—דָּבָר (davar)—belonging to Israel would die. It was perhaps for this reason that the verb was changed in v. 1 from “say” to “speak” (דִּבֶּר, dibber). See U. Cassuto, Exodus, .
9 The lamed preposition indicates possession: “all that was to the Israelites” means “all that the Israelites had.”
10 Heb “and Yahweh set.”
11 Heb “this thing.”
12 Heb “this thing.”
13 Heb “on the morrow.”
14 The word “all” clearly does not mean “all” in the exclusive sense, because subsequent plagues involve cattle. The word must denote such a large number that whatever was left was insignificant for the economy. It could also be taken to mean “all [kinds of] livestock died.”
15 Heb “of Egypt.” The place is put by metonymy for the inhabitants.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

behold, the hand of the Lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.” ’ ” And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” And the next day the Lord did this thing. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys and camels and on your cattle, sheep and goats. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.’ ”

The Lord set a time and said, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land.” And the next day the Lord did it: All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

then the Lord’s hand will bring a severe plague against your livestock in the field—the horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks. But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that the Israelites own will die.” And the Lord set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” The Lord did this the next day. All the Egyptian livestock died, but none among the Israelite livestock died.

NLTNew Living Translation

the hand of the Lord will strike all your livestock—your horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep, and goats—with a deadly plague. But the Lord will again make a distinction between the livestock of the Israelites and that of the Egyptians. Not a single one of Israel’s animals will die! The Lord has already set the time for the plague to begin. He has declared that he will strike the land tomorrow.’ ”

And the Lord did just as he had said. The next morning all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but the Israelites didn’t lose a single animal.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

look, the hand of Yahweh is about to be present with a very severe plague on your livestock that are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the cattle, and on the sheep and goats. But Yahweh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and not a thing will die from all that belongs to the Israelites.’ ” And Yahweh set an appointed time, saying, “Tomorrow Yahweh will do this thing in the land.”

And Yahweh did this thing the next day; all the livestock of Egypt died, but from the livestock of the Israelites not one died.

KJV 1900King James Version

Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain. And the Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children’s of Israel. And the Lord appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the Lord shall do this thing in the land. And the Lord did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.

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