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A Plague against Livestock

“Go back to Pharaoh,” the Lord commanded Moses. “Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so they can worship me. If you continue to hold them and refuse to let them go, the hand of the Lord will strike all your livestock—your horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep, and goats—with a deadly plague. But the Lord will again make a distinction between the livestock of the Israelites and that of the Egyptians. Not a single one of Israel’s animals will die! The Lord has already set the time for the plague to begin. He has declared that he will strike the land tomorrow.’”

And the Lord did just as he had said. The next morning all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but the Israelites didn’t lose a single animal. Pharaoh sent his officials to investigate, and they discovered that the Israelites had not lost a single animal! But even so, Pharaoh’s heart remained stubborn,[a] and he still refused to let the people go.

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Footnotes

  1. 9:7 Hebrew heavy.

The Plague on the Egyptian Cattle

Then the Lord told Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord God of the Hebrews says: “Let my people go so they may serve[a] me. But if you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them, then the hand of the Lord will come[b] with a very severe plague on your livestock in the fields, on horses, on donkeys, on camels, on cattle, and on sheep. The Lord will distinguish between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of the Egyptians, so that nothing that belongs to the Israelis will die.”’”

The Lord set the time: “Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.” The Lord did this thing the next day, and all the livestock of the Egyptians died. But not one of the livestock died that belonged to the Israelis. Then Pharaoh inquired and discovered[c] that not a single one of the livestock of Israel had died, but Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn[d] and he would not let the people go.

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 9:1 Or worship
  2. Exodus 9:3 Lit. be
  3. Exodus 9:7 Lit. sent and behold
  4. Exodus 9:7 Lit. strong