Exodus 9:15 kjv

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 nkjv

Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth.

Exodus 9:15 niv

For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.

Exodus 9:15 esv

For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth.

Exodus 9:15 nlt

By now I could have lifted my hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the face of the earth.

Exodus 9 verses

Exodus 9 15 Meaning

Exodus 9:15 expresses God's sovereign power and His ultimate intention concerning Pharaoh and Egypt. In this declaration, God asserts that He possesses the immediate capability and intent to utterly destroy Pharaoh and his people with a deadly plague, thereby cutting them off from the face of the earth. However, this verse immediately precedes God's explanation for His forbearance in Exodus 9:16, revealing that His deeper purpose in not exercising this immediate and total destruction is to demonstrate His power to Pharaoh and to declare His Name throughout all the earth. The verse therefore underscores both God's immense power for judgment and His redemptive plan to make Himself known.

Exodus 9 15 Context

Exodus 9:15 is situated within the narrative of the plagues upon Egypt, specifically immediately before the seventh plague of hail. Before this verse, Pharaoh has experienced six devastating plagues, yet his heart remains hardened. The preceding verses (Exod 9:1-7) recount the plague on livestock and the boils on people and animals, neither of which moved Pharaoh. Moses then delivers a new warning, stating God's absolute power and control over the very elements of creation. God, through Moses, reiterates that He could have already wiped out Pharaoh and his entire nation (v. 15), but He has refrained for a specific, overriding purpose – to demonstrate His unparalleled power and make His name known throughout the world (v. 16). This specific statement counters Pharaoh's earlier hubristic declaration, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?" (Exod 5:2), serving as a direct theological challenge to Pharaoh's claim of divine authority and the supremacy of the Egyptian gods. Historically, Egypt was seen as a powerful, self-sufficient nation, its pharaoh a god, and its pantheon of deities believed to control the Nile, agriculture, health, and life itself. The plagues systematically dismantled these beliefs, revealing Yahweh's unique and comprehensive sovereignty.

Exodus 9 15 Word analysis

• כִּי (ki): For

  • Significance: Introduces an explanatory or emphatic statement. Here, it acts as "indeed," or "surely," highlighting the gravity of what God could do.
  • Adds emphasis to the imminent potential action.

• עַתָּה (attah): now

  • Significance: Denotes immediate present or present potential. Emphasizes God's capability at any moment.
  • It's not about waiting for a future time, but about His ever-present power to act.

• שָׁלַחְתִּי (shalachti): I had stretched out / I would have stretched out (Piel perfect of shalach 'to send, stretch out')

  • Significance: Refers to an action already completed or intended in the past, or a hypothetical perfect. Here, it is often understood as a counterfactual condition: "If I had stretched out," or "For now, I could have stretched out."
  • "Stretch out my hand" is a common biblical idiom for exercising power, delivering judgment, or acting decisively, as seen throughout the Exodus narrative (e.g., Exod 3:20; 7:5; 7:19; 8:5; 8:17; 9:22; 10:21; 14:26).

• אֶת־יָדִי (et-yadi): my hand

  • Significance: The physical hand as an instrument of action, but anthropomorphically referring to God's divine power, authority, and agency.
  • It points to God's direct, personal intervention.

• וָאַךְ (wa'ach): and struck / to strike (Weqatal of nakah 'to strike, smite')

  • Significance: Indicates an action of forceful impact, often associated with judgment, punishment, or warfare.
  • Implies a decisive and devastating blow.

• אֹתְךָ (ot'ka): you

  • Significance: Direct address to Pharaoh, the very embodiment of Egypt's power and opposition to God.
  • Highlights the personal confrontation between God and Pharaoh, underscoring God's supremacy over earthly rulers.

• וְאֶת־עַמְּךָ (we'et-amm'ka): and your people

  • Significance: Extends the scope of judgment beyond Pharaoh to his entire nation, showing collective consequence.
  • Illustrates the comprehensive nature of God's potential wrath.

• בַּדָּבֶר (bad-daber): with the pestilence (preposition b 'with/by' + dever 'pestilence, plague')

  • Significance: Dever specifically refers to a devastating, often widespread and fatal, disease or epidemic. This highlights God's command over health, life, and death.
  • This is not just any strike but a specific, terrifying, and consuming form of judgment, directly contrasting with Egyptian gods of healing (like Sekhmet).

• וַתִּכָּחֵד (watteekacheed): and you would have been cut off (Waw-conversive perfect of kachad 'to be hidden, annihilated, cut off, utterly consumed')

  • Significance: Indicates complete and utter annihilation or disappearance.
  • Emphasizes existential destruction, the removal from being, signifying a total defeat that goes beyond mere suffering.

• מִן־הָאָרֶץ (min-ha'aretz): from the earth / from the land

  • Significance: Refers to the physical world, or specifically "the land" of Egypt.
  • Denotes complete eradication from existence within their domain, reinforcing the total destruction implied by "cut off." It shows God's authority over land and life within it.

Exodus 9 15 Bonus section

The Hebrew word attah (עתָּה), translated as "now," can convey immediacy but also a "certain" or "surely" sense, reinforcing the certainty of God's ability to act definitively at any given moment. This underscores His ultimate control. The statement in 9:15 also contains an implicit theological polemic. In Egypt, gods like Ra and Osiris were associated with life and the land's fruitfulness. Sekhmet, though a goddess of war and destruction, could also bring healing. By threatening widespread dever (pestilence) and complete eradication from the land, Yahweh directly challenged these deities' purported powers over life, health, and national prosperity, demonstrating His sole authority over such domains. The use of a "cut off" phrase (kachad) resonates with other biblical texts that describe covenant curses or ultimate divine judgment against nations (e.g., Deut 28:48-51, Ezek 14:13). The phrasing highlights that Egypt’s survival was due to divine forbearance, not their own strength or their gods’ protection. This prepares the audience for the severe and visible judgments that follow.

Exodus 9 15 Commentary

Exodus 9:15 is a potent statement of God's overwhelming power and a prelude to His revelation of a greater redemptive purpose. It directly challenges Pharaoh's perceived invincibility and the supposed power of the Egyptian gods by asserting Yahweh's immediate capability to obliterate Egypt with a swift plague. The divine "hand" stretching out signifies active, authoritative, and direct judgment. The term "pestilence" (dever) speaks to a highly fatal and inescapable form of divine judgment, highlighting God's control over life and death. To be "cut off from the earth" is a definitive declaration of total annihilation, leaving no survivors.

However, the power declared in verse 15 is purposefully restrained. The ensuing verse, 9:16, reveals that God did not execute this ultimate judgment for a sovereign, higher aim: to display His power (Rom 9:17) and to ensure His Name is proclaimed throughout all the earth. This patience highlights God's justice mixed with His overarching plan for self-revelation. It shows that even divine wrath serves a holy purpose – not merely punishment, but revealing who God is to both His people and His adversaries, laying a foundation for future redemptive acts. Pharaoh, in his rebellion, became a stage upon which God's incomparable sovereignty was enacted for all time.

• Practical Usage: This verse can serve as a powerful reminder of God's absolute sovereignty and immense power over all earthly forces, including death and disease. It demonstrates that God's patience is not weakness but often serves a strategic purpose in His divine plan, providing an opportunity for His glory to be magnified. For believers, it highlights the contrast between deserved judgment and divine mercy extended for a greater, often unseen, purpose.