For 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;
Parallel Translations
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For 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;
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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.
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Surely now I had put forth My hand, and smitten thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou hadst been cut off from the earth.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Exodus 9:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 3:20 I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do among them, and after that he will let you go.
- Exodus 9:3 behold, Yahweh’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.
- Exodus 9:6 Yahweh did that thing on the next day; and all the livestock of Egypt died, but of the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died.
- Exodus 9:16 but indeed for this cause I have made you stand: to show you my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth,
- Exodus 11:4-6 Moses said, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘About midnight I will go out into the middle of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of livestock. There will be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been, nor will be any more.
- Exodus 12:29-30 At midnight, Yahweh struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. 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 14:28 The waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even all Pharaoh’s army that went in after them into the sea. There remained not so much as one of them.
- 1 Kings 13:34 This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.
- Proverbs 2:22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 9:15 For now I will stretch out my…
Exo 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.
Ver. 15. For now I will stretch out.] His former preservation was but a reservation: and he hath hitherto escaped with his life; not for any love that God bare to him, but "to show his power on him." Wicked men may have common mercies and deliverances, but "the Lord Ioveth the righteous." {Psa 146:8}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Pestilence; not properly so called, but largely, as the…
Pestilence; not properly so called, but largely, as the word is used Hos 13:14, meaning with an utter and irrecoverable destruction. This relates partly to the killing of the first-born, which plague did more immediately and nearly concern both him and his people, and principally to their destruction in the Red Sea.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For now will I stretch out my hand, that…
For now will I stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence,.... Which yet we never find was done; for though this by many is referred to the slaying of the firstborn, yet it is not certain that this was done by the pestilence: besides, Pharaoh was not then smitten, nor his people, only their firstborn; wherefore these words are to be rendered, not in the future, but in the imperfect or preterpluperfect tense, thus; "for when now I stretched out my hand, or if now I had stretched out my hand to smite thee and thy people with pestilence" (a); that is, at the time when he smote the cattle with the murrain or pestilence, when he could as well have smote him and his people with it; there was no want of power in God to do it, and had he done it, it would have been all over with him and them:
and thou shall be cut off from the earth; or "thou hadst been, or wouldest have been cut off from the earth" (b) must have perished out of it, and been no more in the land of the living.
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(a) "modo enim cum extendi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, "vel si extendissem", Fagius, Cocceius; so Jarchi, Gersom, Targ. Onk. & Jon. (b) "sic fuisses excisus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 15. For now I will stretch out my…
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's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Pestilence, or various evils which now came fast upon…
Pestilence, or various evils which now came fast upon Pharao. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 15. For now I will stretch out my hand…
15. For now I will stretch out my hand — The verb (שׁלחתי) is here to be rendered as conditional past, (Ewald, Lehrb., § 358, a.; Nordh., Gram., § 991, 3, a.,) thus, For now I would have stretched out my hand and smitten. For a similar construction see 1Sa_13:13. So the Arabic, Fagius, Adam Clarke, Kalisch, Keil, Knobel, Stier and Theil, Murphy. The verse is closely connected to the following, thus: “For now I would have stretched out my hand and smitten thee… but yet for this have I preserved thee, to show thee my power,” etc.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 15. For now, &c.] ‘had put forth’ is hypothetical:…
15. For now, &c.] ‘had put forth’ is hypothetical: For else (i.e. except for the motive just stated) I should now have put forth, &c., would express the sense more clearly.
hadst] i.e. wouldest have been.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (15) For now I will stretch out my hand.—The…
(15) For now I will stretch out my hand.—The words admit of this translation, but the context will not allow it. Translate—And now I might have stretched out mine hand, and smitten both thee and thy people with pestilence; and then thou hadst been cut off from the earth; but, &c.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For now I will stretch out my hand. It…
For now I will stretch out my hand. It is generally agreed by modern writers that this translation fails to give the true sense of the original God does not here announce what he is going to do, but what he might have done, and would have done, but for certain considerations. Translate, "For now might I have stretched out my hand, and smitten thee and thy people with pestilence; and then thou hadst been cut off from the earth." Scripture shows that pestilence is always in God"s power, and may at any time be let loose to scourge his foes, and sweep them into the pit of destruction. (see Lev_26:25; Num_11:33 Num_14:12 Num_16:46; 2Sa_24:13-15, etc.) He had not done now what he might have done, and what Pharaoh"s obstinacy might well have provoked him to do; and why? On account of the considerations contained in the next verse.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 reached out with my hand and attacked you
reached out with my hand and attacked you
Here "my hand" refers to God's power. AT: "used my power to strike you" (See: Metonymy)
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so that my name may be proclaimed throughout all the earth
Here "my name" represents Yahweh's reputation. AT: "so that people everywhere will know I am great" (See: Metonymy)
lifting yourself up against my people
Pharaoh's opposition to letting Israel go to worship Yahweh is spoken of as if he was raising himself up as a barrier to them. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
hand
people group
power
name
earth
people of God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.