World English Bible · Egypt and Sinai
Exodus 9
Touch any underlined name to see who or where it is. Tap a verse number to see where it is taken up elsewhere.
Then said to , "Go in to , and tell him, 'This is what , the of the , says: "Let my people go, that they may me. For if you refuse to let them go, and hold them still, behold, 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. will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of ; and nothing shall of all that belongs to the ."'" appointed a , saying, "Tomorrow shall do this thing in the land." did that thing on the next day; and all the livestock of , but of the livestock of the , not one . sent, and, behold, there was not so much as one of the livestock of the . But of was , and he didn't let the people go. said to and to , "Take handfuls of of the furnace, and let sprinkle it toward in the sight of . It shall become small over all the land of , and shall be boils and blisters breaking out on man and on animal, throughout all the land of ." They took of the furnace, and stood before ; and sprinkled it up toward ; and it became boils and blisters breaking out on man and on animal. The magicians couldn't stand before because of the boils; for the boils were on the magicians and on all the . hardened of , and he didn't listen to them, as had spoken to . said to , "Rise up early in the morning, and stand before , and tell him, 'This is what , the of the , says: "Let my people go, that they may me. For this time I will send all my plagues against , against your officials, and against your people; that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. For now I would have stretched out my hand, and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been the earth; but indeed for this cause I have made you stand: to show you my , and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth, because you still exalt yourself against my people, that you won't let them go. Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to a very grievous hail, such as has not been in since the day it was founded even until now. Now therefore command that all of your livestock and all that you have in the field be brought into shelter. The hail will come down on every man and animal that is found in the field, and isn't brought home, and they will ."'" Those who feared word among the servants of made their servants and their livestock flee into the houses. Whoever didn't respect word left his servants and his livestock in the field. said to , "Stretch out your hand toward , that there may be hail in all the land of , on man, and on animal, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of ." stretched out his toward , and sent thunder and hail; and lightning flashed down to the earth. rained hail on the land of . So there was very severe hail, and lightning mixed with the hail, such as had not been in all the land of since it became a nation. The hail struck throughout all the land of all that was in the field, both man and animal; and the hail struck every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of , where the were, there was no hail. sent and called for and , and said to them, "I have this time. is , and I and my people are . to ; for there has been enough of mighty thunderings and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer." said to him, "As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to . The thunders shall cease, and there will not be any more hail; that you may know that the earth is . But as for you and your servants, I know that you don't yet ." The flax and the barley were struck, for the barley had ripened and the flax was blooming. But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they had not grown up. went out of the city from , and spread out his hands to ; and the thunders and hail ceased, and the was not poured on the earth. When saw that the and the hail and the thunders had ceased, he yet more, and hardened , he and his servants. of was hardened, and he didn't let the go, as had spoken through .
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Egypt and Sinai, 1450 BC to 1200 BC ›
Israel in and then out of Egypt, at a period when Egypt was an imperial power that also controlled Canaan. The nation is formed as a people with a law before it has any land.
- Egypt
- The New Kingdom at its imperial peak, with a professional army, a chariot corps, and control reaching up through Canaan. Ramesses II reigns for sixty-six years and covers the country in monuments to himself. Egyptian power in this period is the reason Canaan is garrisoned rather than free.
- The Hittites
- The other superpower, in what is now Turkey, and Egypt's rival for the Levant. The two fight the largest chariot battle of the ancient world at Kadesh, then sign a treaty whose text survives from both sides. Hittite treaty form, with its historical prologue, stipulations, witnesses, blessings, and curses, is the shape the Sinai covenant takes, which is one of the stronger arguments for the antiquity of that material.
- The Aegean
- Mycenaean Greece: warrior kings in stone citadels at Mycenae and Pylos, keeping palace accounts in Linear B. The world of the Trojan War stories, whatever lies behind them.
- Further afield
- The Shang dynasty in China is casting extraordinary bronzes and writing questions to its ancestors on ox bones. In Mesoamerica the Olmec are beginning the first civilisation of the Americas.