Exodus 9 · Verse 3

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 9:3, King James Version

Exodus 9:3 in other translations

BSBthen the hand of the LORD will bring a severe plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks.
WEBbehold, the LORD’s hand is on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks with a very grievous pestilence.
ASVbehold, the hand of Jehovah is upon thy cattle which are in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the herds, and upon the flocks: there shall be a very grievous murrain.
YLTlo, the hand of Jehovah is on thy cattle which are in the field, on horses, on asses, on camels, on herd, and on flock--a pestilence very grievous.
DARBYbehold, the hand of Jehovah shall be on thy cattle which is in the field, on the horses, on the asses, on the camels, on the oxen and on the sheep, with a very grievous plague.
BBEThen the hand of the Lord will put on your cattle in the field, on the horses and the asses and the camels, on the herds and the flocks, a very evil disease.
WebsterBehold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which are 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.

What does Exodus 9:3 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 9:3-5

Ex 9:1-7. Murrain of Beasts.

3-5. Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle--A fifth application was made to Pharaoh in behalf of the Israelites by Moses, who was instructed to tell him that, if he persisted in opposing their departure, a pestilence would be sent among all the flocks and herds of the Egyptians, while those of the Israelites would be spared. As he showed no intention of keeping his promise, he was still a mark for the arrows of the Almighty's quiver, and the threatened plague of which he was forewarned was executed. But it is observable that in this instance it was not inflicted through the instrumentality or waving of Aaron's rod, but directly by the hand of the Lord, and the fixing of the precise time tended still further to determine the true character of the calamity (Jr 12:4).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 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 and swelling of the head, abundance of gum in the eyes, rattling in the throat, difficulty of breathing, palpitation of the heart, staggering, a hot breath, and a shining tongue; which symptoms prove that a general inflammation has taken place. The original word דבר deber is variously translated. The Septuagint have θανατος, death; the Vulgate has pestis, a plague or pestilence; the old Saxon version, to die, any fatal disease. Our English word murrain comes either from the French mourir, to die, or from the Greek μαραινω maraino, to grow lean, waste away. The term mortality would be the nearest in sense to the original, as no particular disorder is specified by the Hebrew word.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Exodus 9:1-7

God will have Israel released, Pharaoh opposes it, and the trial is, whose word shall stand. The hand of the Lord at once is upon the cattle, many of which, some of all kinds, die by a sort of murrain. This was greatly to the loss of the owners; they had made Israel poor, and now God would make them poor. The hand of God is to be seen, even in the sickness and death of cattle; for a sparrow falls not to the ground…

Read the full comment on Exodus 9:1-7 →

Exodus 9:3 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.

הִנֵּ֨הhi.Nehthere!H2009
יַד\־yad-[the] hand ofH3027
יְהוָ֜הYah.wehYahwehH3068
הוֹיָ֗הho.Yah[is] about to beH1961
בְּמִקְנְךָ֙be.mik.ne.Chaon livestock yourH4735
אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.SherwhichH834
בַּשָּׂדֶ֔הba.sa.Deh[is] in the fieldH7704
בַּסּוּסִ֤יםba.su.Simon the horsesH5483
בַּֽחֲמֹרִים֙ba.cha.mo.Rimon the donkeysH2543
בַּגְּמַלִּ֔יםba.ge.ma.Limon the camelsH1581
בַּבָּקָ֖רba.ba.Karon the cattleH1241
וּבַצֹּ֑אןu.va.Tzonand on the sheepH6629
דֶּ֖בֶרDe.vera pestilenceH1698
כָּבֵ֥דka.VedheavyH3515
מְאֹֽד\׃me.'OdveryH3966

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

Cross references for Exodus 9:3

  • 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, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.

  • 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 him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.

  • 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 that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us.

  • 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 thereof. And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god. They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither. And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts. …

  • 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 Lord had said.

  • 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 Lord our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
the hand.
7:4; 8:19; 1Sa 5:6-11; 6:9; Ac 13:11
murrain.We may observe a particular scope and meaning in this calamity, if we consider it in regard to the Egyptians, which would not have existed in respect to any other people. They held in idolatrous reverence almost every animal, but some they held in particular veneration; as the ox, cow, and ram. Among these, {Apis} and {Mnevis} are well known; the former being a sacred bull, worshipped at Memphis, as the latter was at Heliopolis. A cow or heifer had the like honours at Momemphis; and the same practice seems to have been adopted in most of the Egyptian {nomes.} By the infliction of this judgment, the Egyptian deities sank before the God of the Hebrews. See Bryant, pp. 87-93.
5:3

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

Context

  • Exodus 9:2

    For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,

  • 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 9:4

    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.

Read all of Exodus 9

Exodus 9:3 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		He aquí la mano de Jehová será sobre tus ganados que están en el campo, caballos, asnos, camellos, vacas y ovejas, con pestilencia gravísima:
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		voici, la main de l’ Éternel sera sur tes troupeaux qui sont aux champs, sur les chevaux, sur les ânes, sur les chameaux, sur le gros bétail, et sur le menu bétail; il y aura une peste très grande;
German
Elberfelder 1871		siehe, so wird die Hand Jehovas über dein Vieh kommen, das auf dem Felde ist: über die Pferde, über die Esel, über die Kamele, über die Rinder und über das Kleinvieh, eine sehr schwere Pest.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		ecce manus mea erit super agros tuos, et super equos, et asinos, et camelos, et boves, et oves, pestis valde gravis.