Êxodo 9

ARC · Chapter 9/40

1Depois o Senhor disse a Moysés: Entra a Pharaó, e dize-lhe: Assim diz o Senhor, o Deus dos hebreos: Deixa ir o meu povo, para que me sirva.

2Porque se recusares de os deixar ir, e ainda por força os detiveres,

3Eis que a mão do Senhor será sobre teu gado, que está no campo, sobre os cavallos, sobre os jumentos, sobre os camelos, sobre os bois, e sobre as ovelhas, com pestilencia gravissima.

4E o Senhor fará separação entre o gado dos israelitas, e o gado dos egypcios, que nada morra de tudo o que fôr dos filhos d'Israel.

5E o Senhor assignalou certo tempo, dizendo: Amanhã fará o Senhor esta coisa na terra.

6E o Senhor fez esta coisa no dia seguinte, e todo o gado dos egypcios morreu: porém do gado dos filhos d'Israel não morreu nenhum.

7E Pharaó enviou a ver, e eis que do gado d'Israel não morrera nenhum: porém o coração de Pharaó se aggravou, e não deixou ir o povo

8Então disse o Senhor a Moysés e a Aarão: Tomae vossos punhos cheios da cinza do forno, e Moysés a espalhe para o céu diante dos olhos de Pharaó;

9E tornar-se-ha em pó miudo sobre toda a terra do Egypto, e se tornará em sarna, que arrebente em ulceras nos homens e no gado, por toda a terra do Egypto.

10E elles tomaram a cinza do forno, e pozeram-se diante de Pharaó, e Moysés a espalhou para o céu: e tornou-se em sarna, que arrebentava em ulceras nos homens e no gado;

11De maneira que os magos não podiam parar diante de Moysés, por causa da sarna; porque havia sarna em os magos, e em todos os egypcios.

12Porém o Senhor endureceu o coração de Pharaó, e não os ouviu, como o Senhor tinha dito a Moysés.

13Então disse o Senhor a Moysés: Levanta-te pela manhã cedo, e põe-te diante de Pharaó, e dize-lhe: Assim diz o Senhor, o Deus dos hebreos: Deixa ir o meu povo, para que me sirva;

14Porque esta vez enviarei todas as minhas pragas sobre o teu coração, e sobre os teus servos, e sobre o teu povo, para que saibas que não ha outro como Eu em toda a terra.

15Porque agora tenho estendido minha mão, para te ferir a ti e ao teu povo com pestilencia, e para que sejas destruido da terra;

16Mas devéras para isto te levantei, para mostrar minha potencia em ti, e para que o meu nome seja annunciado em toda a terra.

17Tu ainda te levantas contra o meu povo, para não os deixar ir?

18Eis que ámanhã por este tempo farei chover saraiva mui grave, qual nunca houve no Egypto, desde o dia em que foi fundado até agora.

19Agora pois envia, recolhe o teu gado, e tudo o que tens no campo; todo o homem e animal, que fôr achado no campo, e não fôr recolhido á casa, a saraiva cairá sobre elles, e morrerão.

20Quem dos servos de Pharaó temia a palavra do Senhor, fez fugir os seus servos e o seu gado para as casas;

21Mas aquelle que não tinha applicado a palavra do Senhor ao seu coração, deixou os seus servos e o seu gado no campo.

22Então disse o Senhor a Moysés: Estende a tua mão para o céu, e haverá saraiva em toda a terra do Egypto, sobre os homens e sobre o gado, e sobre toda a herva do campo na terra de Egypto.

23E Moysés estendeu a sua vara para o céu, e o Senhor deu trovões e saraiva, e fogo corria pela terra; e o Senhor fez chover saraiva sobre a terra do Egypto.

24E havia saraiva, e fogo misturado entre a saraiva, mui grave, qual nunca houve em toda a terra do Egypto, desde que veiu a ser uma nação.

25E a saraiva feriu, em toda a terra do Egypto, tudo quanto havia no campo, desde os homens até aos animaes: tambem a saraiva feriu toda a herva do campo, e quebrou todas as arvores do campo.

26Sómente na terra de Goshen, onde estavam, os filhos de Israel, não havia saraiva.

27Então Pharaó enviou para chamar a Moysés e a Aarão, e disse-lhes: Esta vez pequei; o Senhor é justo, mas eu e o meu povo impios.

28Orae ao Senhor (pois que basta) para que não haja mais trovões de Deus nem saraiva; e eu vos deixarei ir, e não ficareis mais aqui.

29Então lhe disse Moysés: Em saindo da cidade estenderei minhas mãos ao Senhor: os trovões cessarão, e não haverá mais saraiva; para que saibas que a terra é do Senhor.

30Todavia, quanto a ti e aos teus servos, eu sei que ainda não temereis diante do Senhor Deus.

31E o linho e a cevada foram feridos, porque a cevada já estava na espiga, e o linho na cana,

32Mas o trigo e o centeio não foram feridos, porque estavam cobertos.

33Saiu pois Moysés de Pharaó, da cidade, e estendeu as suas mãos ao Senhor: e cessaram os trovões e a saraiva, e a chuva não caiu mais sobre a terra.

34Vendo Pharaó que cessou a chuva, e a saraiva, e os trovões, continuou em peccar: e aggravou o seu coração, elle e os seus servos.

35Assim o coração de Pharaó se endureceu, e não deixou ir os filhos de Israel, como o Senhor tinha dito por Moysés.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God sends further plagues upon Egypt: the death of the livestock, boils, and hail; Pharaoh continues to harden his heart even while momentarily acknowledging 'I have sinned' in the face of the devastation.

Explanation

This chapter intensifies the demonstration of God's power over creation and over the human body itself, with plagues that strike directly at the Egyptians' economy (loss of livestock) and physical health (boils), always sparing the people of Israel in the land of Goshen. The plague of hail, described as 'the worst since Egypt became a nation,' shows a deliberate escalation in the intensity of the judgments, allowing time for genuine repentance, but also demonstrating that God's patience has a greater educational purpose: 'that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth' (v. 14). Pharaoh's partial reaction, momentarily acknowledging 'I have sinned... the LORD is righteous' (v. 27) but reversing course as soon as the threat passes, illustrates the difference between circumstantial remorse and true, lasting repentance. Today's lesson is that acknowledging a wrong under pressure is not the same as a genuine change of heart and conduct.

Fun facts

  • The mention that some of Pharaoh's servants 'feared the word of the LORD' and brought their livestock to shelter before the hail (v. 20) shows that, even within Egypt, there were people beginning to recognize the authority of the God of Israel, suggesting that Moses' message was already reaching some Egyptian hearts individually.
  • The plague of boils that strikes even the Egyptian magicians themselves, preventing them from continuing to compete with Moses (v. 11), marks the moment when Israel's spiritual opponents are decisively silenced, no longer able to imitate the divine signs.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Êxodo 9:1It opens the fifth plague with the same request repeated every round: Moses must demand the people’s release before any new punishment is announced to Pharaoh.
  2. Êxodo 9:2The phrase makes clear that Pharaoh’s refusal is not passive: he is actively determined to “hold them still” and keep the people from leaving.
  3. Êxodo 9:3The plague announced this time is a pestilence that strikes the Egyptian livestock, animals essential for transport as well as food and farm labor.
  4. Êxodo 9:4It repeats the pattern already seen with the flies: God separates what belongs to Israel from what belongs to Egypt, showing that the plague has a defined target.
  5. Êxodo 9:5Unlike earlier plagues, this time God marks in advance the exact moment the punishment will begin: the next day.
  6. Êxodo 9:6Here the text says that “all the cattle” of the Egyptians died in the plague of pestilence, but just a few verses later, in the plague of hail, Egyptian cattle still appear in the field being struck. A common explanation is that “all” refers to the cattle that were exposed in the field at that moment, since part of the herds may have been restocked afterward.
  7. Êxodo 9:7Even after confirming, through messengers, that the Hebrew livestock really was untouched, Pharaoh remains unyielding and does not change his decision.
  8. Êxodo 9:8The sixth plague begins in a different way: instead of water or animals, Moses and Aaron use furnace ashes, thrown into the wind right in front of Pharaoh.
  9. Êxodo 9:9The ash turns into a fine dust that causes sores and boils breaking out on the skin, striking both people and animals throughout Egypt.
  10. Êxodo 9:10The plague comes to pass exactly as announced as soon as Moses throws the ash into the air, before Pharaoh’s own eyes.
  11. Êxodo 9:11For the second time in a row the Egyptian magicians cannot compete with the sign: this time they themselves end up covered in sores, unable to imitate Moses.
  12. Êxodo 9:12It is the first time the text directly attributes the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart to God, rather than to Pharaoh’s own choice — a point debated among scholars.
  13. Êxodo 9:13Before the seventh plague, God repeats the same routine of approaching Pharaoh in the morning with the request for the people’s freedom.
  14. Êxodo 9:14God announces that this plague will be more severe than the earlier ones, striking Pharaoh himself directly, not just the Egyptian people in general.
  15. Êxodo 9:15God explains that He could already have destroyed Pharaoh and Egypt completely with a pestilence, but chose a different path, explained in the next verse.
  16. Êxodo 9:16When God says He “raised thee up” to show His power and spread His name throughout the earth, it does not mean Pharaoh was created only to suffer the plagues. It is more in the sense that God allowed him to reach the throne and keep resisting, using that resistance to make the confrontation more visible to everyone.
  17. Êxodo 9:17God’s question exposes Pharaoh’s ongoing stubbornness, who keeps resisting even after so many signs already confirmed.
  18. Êxodo 9:18The plague of hail is announced as something unprecedented, stronger than any storm ever seen since Egypt was founded as a nation.
  19. Êxodo 9:19God gives Pharaoh and the Egyptians a chance to protect people and animals by bringing them indoors before the storm — an unusual warning among the plagues.
  20. Êxodo 9:20Some Egyptians take the warning seriously and bring their servants and animals indoors, showing that not every Egyptian completely ignored Moses’s warnings.
  21. Êxodo 9:21Others ignore the warning and leave everything exposed in the field, suffering the consequences the hail brings in the rest of the chapter.
  22. Êxodo 9:22Moses receives the order to stretch out his hand toward the sky, the gesture that will unleash the hailstorm over the whole land of Egypt.
  23. Êxodo 9:23The storm combines three elements at once, thunder, hail, and fire running along the ground, likely lightning, in a scene of rare intensity.
  24. Êxodo 9:24The text reinforces that this particular storm had no precedent since Egypt had existed as an organized nation.
  25. Êxodo 9:25The destruction strikes everything left exposed in the field, people, animals, crops, and trees, sparing nothing that had not been brought in on time.
  26. Êxodo 9:26Once again the region of Goshen, where the Hebrews lived, falls outside the reach of the plague, reinforcing the pattern of specific protection over Israel.
  27. Êxodo 9:27It is the first time Pharaoh admits guilt in his own words, but the text soon shows, in the next verse, that it is a repentance born of distress, one that fades as soon as the plague stops. It is not a real change of character, but a momentary reaction under pressure.
  28. Êxodo 9:28Pharaoh asks for the storm to stop and promises, in exchange, to let the people go — the same bargain already made and broken in earlier plagues.
  29. Êxodo 9:29Moses agrees to pray, but chooses to do so outside the city, and takes the chance to stress that the whole point is to show that the earth belongs to God.
  30. Êxodo 9:30Even while agreeing to pray, Moses already suspects that Pharaoh and his servants will not truly change their attitude once the plague has passed.
  31. Êxodo 9:31The detail that the barley was already “in the ear” and the flax “bolled” — and so destroyed — while the wheat and the rye escaped because they were still lower, serves to mark the time of year the plague happened, in the middle of the Egyptian spring. It is an agricultural detail that helps place the scene in time, not a matter of faith.
  32. Êxodo 9:32The wheat and the rye escape destruction only because they had not yet sprouted enough at the time of the storm, a detail that helps place the season of the year.
  33. Êxodo 9:33Keeping his word, Moses leaves the city and prays, and the storm stops immediately, as had been promised to Pharaoh.
  34. Êxodo 9:34As soon as he sees the storm end, Pharaoh goes back on his promise again, repeating the pattern of fleeting repentance already seen before.
  35. Êxodo 9:35The chapter closes confirming once more that Pharaoh does not let the people go, exactly as God had warned Moses from the beginning.

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