Lectionary Calendar
Monday, September 15th, 2025
the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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Read the Bible

New Living Translation

Exodus 9:15

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.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Miracles;   Power;   Suffering;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Afflictions of the Wicked, the;   Judgments;   Power of God, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Plague;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Exodus, Book of;   Pestilence;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Exodus;   Leviticus;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Cattle;   Egypt;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Plagues of egypt;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Plagues, the Ten,;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Plagues of Egypt;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Exodus, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Pestilence;   Plagues of Egypt;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Hail;   Plague;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
For now I would have put forth my hand, and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the eretz;
King James Version
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.
Lexham English Bible
For now I could have stretched out my hand, and I could have struck you and your people with the plague, and you would have perished from the earth.
New Century Version
By now I could have used my power and caused a terrible disease that would have destroyed you and your people from the earth.
New English Translation
For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with plague, and you would have been destroyed from the earth.
Amplified Bible
"For by now I could have put out My hand and struck you and your people with a pestilence, and you would then have been cut off (obliterated) from the earth.
New American Standard Bible
"For had I now put out My hand and struck you and your people with plague, you would then have been eliminated from the earth.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For nowe I will stretch out mine hande, that I may smite thee and thy people with the pestilence: and thou shalt perish from the earth.
Legacy Standard Bible
For if by now I had sent forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been wiped out from the earth.
Contemporary English Version
In fact, he could already have sent a terrible disease and wiped you from the face of the earth.
Complete Jewish Bible
By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with such severe plagues that you would have been wiped off the earth.
Darby Translation
For now shall I put forth my hand, and I will smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.
Easy-to-Read Version
I could use my power and cause a disease that would wipe you and your people off the earth.
English Standard Version
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.
George Lamsa Translation
For now I will stretch out my hand that I may strike you and your people with pestilence; and you shall perish from the earth.
Good News Translation
If I had raised my hand to strike you and your people with disease, you would have been completely destroyed.
Christian Standard Bible®
By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been obliterated from the earth.
Literal Translation
For now I have sent forth My hand and have stricken you and your people with pestilence, and you have been destroyed from the earth.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For I will now stretch out my hande, & smyte the & thy people wt pestilence, so yt thou shalt be roted out from the earth.
American Standard Version
For now I had put forth my hand, and smitten thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou hadst been cut off from the earth:
Bible in Basic English
For if I had put the full weight of my hand on you and your people, you would have been cut off from the earth:
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smyte thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou shalt peryshe from the earth.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
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.
King James Version (1611)
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.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For now I will stretch forth my hand and smite thee and kill thy people, and thou shalt be consumed from off the earth.
English Revised Version
For now I had put forth my hand, and smitten thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou hadst been cut off from the earth:
Berean Standard Bible
For by this time I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the earth.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For now Y schal holde forth the hond, and Y schal smyte thee and thi puple with pestilence, and thou schalt perische fro erthe;
Young's Literal Translation
for now I have put forth My hand, and I smite thee, and thy people, with pestilence, and thou art hidden from the earth.
Update Bible Version
For now I have put forth my hand, and have smitten you and your people with pestilence, and you have been cut off from the earth:
Webster's Bible Translation
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.
World English Bible
For now I would have put forth my hand, and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth;
New King James Version
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.
New Life Bible
For by now I could have put out My hand and hit you and your people with much trouble and great suffering. You would then have been destroyed from the earth.
New Revised Standard
For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For now, might I have put forth my hand, and smitten thee and thy people with pestilence, - and thou shoulder have secretly disappeared from the earth;
Douay-Rheims Bible
For now I will stretch out my hand to strike thee, and thy people, with pestilence, and thou shalt perish from the earth.
Revised Standard Version
For by now I could have put forth my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For if by now I had put forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been cut off from the earth.

Contextual Overview

13 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord , the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so they can worship me. 14 If you don't, I will send more plagues on you and your officials and your people. Then you will know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 15 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. 16 But I have spared you for a purpose—to show you my power and to spread my fame throughout the earth. 17 But you still lord it over my people and refuse to let them go. 18 So tomorrow at this time I will send a hailstorm more devastating than any in all the history of Egypt. 19 Quick! Order your livestock and servants to come in from the fields to find shelter. Any person or animal left outside will die when the hail falls.'" 20 Some of Pharaoh's officials were afraid because of what the Lord had said. They quickly brought their servants and livestock in from the fields. 21 But those who paid no attention to the word of the Lord left theirs out in the open.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

stretch: Exodus 9:3, Exodus 9:6, Exodus 9:16, Exodus 3:20

that: Exodus 11:4-6, Exodus 12:29, Exodus 12:30

cut off: Exodus 14:28, 1 Kings 13:34, Proverbs 2:22

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 4:11 - from 1 Kings 8:42 - thy strong hand 2 Kings 17:36 - a stretched 2 Kings 19:19 - O Lord Isaiah 37:20 - that all Jeremiah 21:5 - with an

Cross-References

Genesis 9:8
Then God told Noah and his sons,
Genesis 9:10
and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth.
Exodus 28:12
Fasten the two stones on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod as a reminder that Aaron represents the people of Israel. Aaron will carry these names on his shoulders as a constant reminder whenever he goes before the Lord .
Deuteronomy 7:9
Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.
1 Kings 8:23
and he prayed, "O Lord , God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven above or on the earth below. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion.
Nehemiah 9:32
"And now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of unfailing love, do not let all the hardships we have suffered seem insignificant to you. Great trouble has come upon us and upon our kings and leaders and priests and prophets and ancestors—all of your people—from the days when the kings of Assyria first triumphed over us until now.
Psalms 106:45
He remembered his covenant with them and relented because of his unfailing love.
Jeremiah 14:21
For the sake of your reputation, Lord , do not abandon us. Do not disgrace your own glorious throne. Please remember us, and do not break your covenant with us.
Ezekiel 16:60
Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
Luke 1:72
He has been merciful to our ancestors by remembering his sacred covenant—

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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.

a כי עתה שלחתי "modo enim cum extendi", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, "vel si extendissem", Fagius, Cocceius so Jarchi, Gersom, Targ. Onk. & Jon. b ותכחד "sic fuisses excisus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

With the plague of hail begins the last series of plagues, which differ from the former both in their severity and their effects. Each produced a temporary, but real, change in Pharaoh’s feelings.

Exodus 9:14

All my plagues - This applies to all the plagues which follow; the effect of each was foreseen and foretold. The words “at this time” point to a rapid and continuous succession of blows. The plagues which precede appear to have been spread over a considerable time; the first message of Moses was delivered after the early harvest of the year before, when the Israelites could gather stubble, i. e. in May and April: the second mission, when the plagues began, was probably toward the end of June, and they went on at intervals until the winter; this plague was in February; see Exodus 9:31.

Exodus 9:15

For now ... - Better, For now indeed, had I stretched forth my hand and smitten thee and thy people with the pestilence, then hadst thou been cut off from the earth. Exodus 9:16 gives the reason why God had not thus inflicted a summary punishment once for all.

Exodus 9:16

Have I raised thee up - See the margin. God kept Pharaoh “standing”, i. e. permitted him to live and hold out until His own purpose was accomplished.

Exodus 9:18

A very grievous hail - The miracle consisted in the magnitude of the infliction and in its immediate connection with the act of Moses.

Exodus 9:19

In Egypt the cattle are sent to pasture in the open country from January to April, when the grass is abundant. They are kept in stalls for the rest of the year.

Exodus 9:20

The word of the Lord - This gives the first indication that the warnings had a salutary effect upon the Egyptians.

Exodus 9:27

The Lord - Thus, for the first time, Pharaoh explicitly recognizes Yahweh as God (compare Exodus 5:2).

Exodus 9:29

The earth is the Lord’s - This declaration has a direct reference to Egyptian superstition. Each god was held to have special power within a given district; Pharaoh had learned that Yahweh was a god, he was now to admit that His power extended over the whole earth. The unity and universality of the divine power, though occasionally recognized in ancient Egyptian documents, were overlaid at a very early period by systems alternating between Polytheism and Pantheism.

Exodus 9:31

The flax was bolled - i. e. in blossom. This marks the time. In the north of Egypt the barley ripens and flax blossoms about the middle of February, or at the latest early in March, and both are gathered in before April, when the wheat harvest begins. The cultivation of flax must have been of great importance; linen was preferred to any material, and exclusively used by the priests. It is frequently mentioned on Egyptian monuments.

Exodus 9:32

Rie - Rather, “spelt,” the common food of the ancient Egyptians, now called “doora” by the natives, and the only grain represented on the sculptures: the name, however, occurs on the monuments very frequently in combination with other species.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 9:15. 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.


 
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