Exodus 9 · Verse 15

Exodus 9:15

For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.
Exodus 9:15, King James Version

Exodus 9:15 in other translations

BSBFor by this time I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the earth.
WEBFor now I would have stretched out my hand, and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth;
ASVFor now I had put forth my hand, and smitten thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou hadst been cut off from the earth:
YLTfor now I have put forth My hand, and I smite thee, and thy people, with pestilence, and thou art hidden from the earth.
DARBYFor now shall I put forth my hand, and I will smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.
BBEFor if I had put the full weight of my hand on you and your people, you would have been cut off from the earth:
WebsterFor now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.

What does Exodus 9:15 mean?

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 15 For now I will stretch out my hand - In the Hebrew the verbs are in the past tense, and not in the future, as our translation improperly expresses them, by which means a contradiction appears in the text: for neither Pharaoh nor his people were smitten by a pestilence, nor was he by any kind of mortality cut off from the earth. It is true the first-born were slain by a destroying angel, and Pharaoh himself was drowned in the Red Sea; but these judgments do not appear to be referred to in this place. If the words be translated, as they ought, in the subjunctive mood, or in the past instead of the future, this seeming contradiction to facts, as well as all ambiguity, will be avoided: For if now I Had Stretched Out (שלהתי shalachti, had set forth) my hand, and had smitten thee (ואך אותך vaach otheca) and thy people with the pestilence, thou Shouldst Have Been cut off (תכחד ticcached) from the earth.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Exodus 9:13-21

Moses is here ordered to deliver a dreadful message to Pharaoh. Providence ordered it, that Moses should have a man of such a fierce and stubborn spirit as this Pharaoh to deal with; and every thing made it a most signal instance of the power of God has to humble and bring down the proudest of his enemies. When God's justice threatens ruin, his mercy at the same time shows a way of escape from it. God not only…

Read the full comment on Exodus 9:13-21 →

Exodus 9:15 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כִּ֤יkiforH3588
עַתָּה֙'a.TahnowH6258
שָׁלַ֣חְתִּיsha.Lach.tiI stretched outH7971
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
יָדִ֔יya.Dihand myH3027
וָאַ֥ךְva.'Akhand I struckH5221
אוֹתְךָ֛'ot.Kha<obj.> youH853
וְאֶֽת\־ve.'Etand <obj.>H853
עַמְּךָ֖'a.me.Khapeople yourH5971
בַּדָּ֑בֶרba.Da.verwith <the> pestilenceH1698
וַתִּכָּחֵ֖דva.ti.ka.Chedand you were destroyedH3582
מִן\־min-fromH4480
הָאָֽרֶץ\׃ha.'A.retzthe earthH776

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Exodus 9:15

  • Exodus 3:20

    And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.

  • Exodus 12:29-30

    And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

  • 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.

  • Exodus 9:6

    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.

  • Exodus 11:4-6

    And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.

  • Exodus 9:16

    And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.

  • Proverbs 2:22

    But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

  • Exodus 14:28

    And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.

  • 1 Kings 13:34

    And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
stretch.
3,6,16; 3:20
that.
11:4-6; 12:29,30
cut off.
14:28; 1Ki 13:34; Pr 2:22

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Exodus 9:14

    For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.

  • Exodus 9:15

    For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.

  • Exodus 9:16

    And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.

Read all of Exodus 9

Exodus 9:15 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Porque ahora yo extenderé mi mano para herirte á ti y á tu pueblo de pestilencia, y serás quitado de la tierra.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
car maintenant, j’étendrai ma main, et je te frapperai de peste, toi et ton peuple, et tu seras exterminé de dessus la terre.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Denn jetzt hätte ich meine Hand ausgestreckt und hätte dich und dein Volk mit der Pest geschlagen, und du wärest vertilgt worden von der Erde;
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Nunc enim extendens manum percutiam te, et populum tuum peste, peribisque de terra.