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.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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;
- 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.
- 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.
- NASB 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.
- 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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God says he could already have wiped Egypt out with pestilence. His restraint so far is deliberate mercy and purpose, not weakness.
Overview
Yahweh makes clear that Egypt's survival is owed entirely to his forbearance, not to any limit on his power. He could have ended Pharaoh instantly, but chose a measured course for a greater end. This restraint frames the next verse's explanation of why Pharaoh was spared. It reveals a God who governs judgment with patience and purpose.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Exod 3:20So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them. And after that, he will release you.
- Exod 14:28The waters flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had chased the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
- Exod 11:4–6So Moses declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt,
- Exod 9:3then the hand of the LORD will bring a severe plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks.
- Exod 12:29–30Now at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn among the livestock.
- Exod 9:6And the next day the LORD did just that. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died.
- 1 Kgs 13:34And this was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its extermination and destruction from the face of the earth.
- Exod 9:16But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
- Prov 2:22but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 9:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.