Exodus 9:3

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.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
hand	יַד yad-	H3027	a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct
LORD	יְהוָ֜ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
is	הוֹיָ֗ה ho.Yah	H1961	to exist · verb, qal active participle, feminine singular absolute
cattle	בְּמִקְנְךָ֙ be.mik.ne.Cha	H4735	something bought · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
field	בַּשָּׂדֶ֔ה ba.sa.Deh	H7704	a field (as flat) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
horses	בַּסּוּסִ֤ים ba.su.Sim	H5483	a horse (as leaping) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
asses	בַּֽחֲמֹרִים֙ ba.cha.mo.Rim	H2543	a male ass (from its dun red) · preposition with the article + noun, common both genders plural absolute
camels	בַּגְּמַלִּ֔ים ba.ge.ma.Lim	H1581	a camel · preposition with the article + noun, common both genders plural absolute
oxen	בַּבָּקָ֖ר ba.ba.Kar	H1241	beef cattle or an animal of the ox family of either gen… · preposition with the article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
sheep	וּבַצֹּ֑אן u.va.Tzon	H6629	a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats) · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
very	מְאֹֽד me.'Od	H3966	properly · cardinal number, masculine singular absolute
grievous	כָּבֵ֥ד ka.Ved	H3515	heavy · adjective, masculine singular absolute
murrain	דֶּ֖בֶר De.ver	H1698	a pestilence · noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Exodus 7:4 But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel…
Acts 13:11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on…
Exodus 5:3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the…
Exodus 8:19 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LO…
1 Samuel 5:6-11 But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts there…
1 Samuel 6:9 And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Beth-shemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know th…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 9:1-7

Here is, I. Warning given of another plague, namely, the murrain of beasts. When Pharaoh's heart was hardened, after he had seemed to relent under the former plague, then Moses is sent to tell him there is another coming, to try what that would do towards reviving the impressions of the former plagues. Thus is the wrath of God revealed from heaven, both in his word and in his works, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. 1. Moses puts Pharaoh in a very fair way to prevent it: Let my people go, Exo 9:1. This was still the demand. God will have Israel released; Pharaoh opposes it, and the trial is, whose word shall stand. See how jealous God is for his people. When the year of his…

Read the whole note in the console

Adam Clarke on Exodus 9:3

The hand of the Lord - The power of God manifested in judgment. Upon the horses - סוסים susim. This is the first place the horse is mentioned; a creature for which Egypt and Arabia were always famous. סס sus is supposed to have the same meaning with שש sas, which signifies to be active, brisk, or lively, all which are proper appellatives of the horse, especially in Arabia and Egypt. Because of their activity and swiftness they were sacrificed and dedicated to the sun, and perhaps it was principally on this account that God prohibited the use of them among the Israelites. A very grievous murrain - The murrain is a very contagious disease among cattle, the symptoms of which are a hanging down…

Read the whole note in the console

John Gill on Exodus 9:3

Behold, the hand of the Lord,.... Which was stronger than his, with which he held the Israelites: is upon thy cattle which is in the field: this takes in all in general, of which the particulars follow, though limited to such as were in the field, and so did not take in what were at home in their out houses and stables: upon the horses: of which there was great plenty in Egypt, as appears from various places of Scripture: upon the asses; used for carrying burdens from place to place: and upon the camels; used the like purposes, and to ride upon, and particularly to travel with through desert places for commerce, being able to proceed on without water for a considerable time: upon the ox…

The Church Fathers

In the fifth place, Egypt is struck with the slaughter of animals or cattle. Frenzy is demonstrated here, and the stupidity of men who, like irrational animals, gave worship and the name of god to figures carved in wood or stone—figures not only of men but of animals, too. They worshiped Jupiter Ammon in a ram, Anubis in a dog, and Apis in a bull, and others, too, which Egypt admired as symbols of its gods. They believed that the divine splendor was present in these forms and offered pathetic acts of worship to them.
— Isidore of Seville, QUESTIONS ON THE OLD TESTAMENT, EX 14:10

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Hand — Called by Galen “the instrument of instruments.” It is the symbol of human action (Ps. 9:16; Job 9:30; Isa. 1:15; 1 Tim. 2:8). Washing the hands was a symbol of innocence (Ps. 26:6; 73:13; Matt.…
Murrain — Heb. deber, “destruction,” a “great mortality”, the fifth plague that fell upon the Egyptians (Ex. 9:3). It was some distemper that resulted in the sudden and widespread death of the cattle. It was…
Plague — A “stroke” of affliction, or disease. Sent as a divine chastisement (Num. 11:33; 14:37; 16:46-49; 2 Sam. 24:21). Painful afflictions or diseases, (Lev. 13:3, 5, 30; 1 Kings 8:37), or severe calamity…
Plagues, The Ten — The occasion on which the plagues were sent is described in Exod 3-12.
Anger Of God, The · Exemplified against: Egyptians — Exemplified against: Egyptians
B · Liable to diseases — Liable to diseases
Camel, The · Subject to plagues — Subject to plagues
Horse, The · Often suffered: From murrain — Often suffered: From murrain
Miracles Wrought Through Servants Of God · Moses and Aaron: Murrain of beasts — Moses and Aaron: Murrain of beasts
Murrain (A Disease Of Livestock) · A plague of Egypt — A plague of Egypt
Plague · On — On
Power Of God, The · Expressed by the: Hand of God — Expressed by the: Hand of God

Exodus 9:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 9:1-7

Adam Clarke on Exodus 9:3

John Gill on Exodus 9:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Exodus 9:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 9:1-7

Adam Clarke on Exodus 9:3

John Gill on Exodus 9:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Exodus 9:1-7

Keil & Delitzsch on Exodus 9:3-5

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Exodus 9:3

Rashi on Exodus 9:3