What Does Exodus 9:23 Mean?
And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven, and the LORD gave thunder and hail, and fire walked along the ground, and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.THE KEY
Moses’ rod is not merely lifted: וַיִּשְׁלַח (wayyishlach, “he sent forth”) comes from שָׁלַח (shalach, “send forth/release”), the same root that carries the Bible’s language of letting go.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now of power made material: thunder and hail descend, and fire moves across the ground. What is set in motion above reaches the earth where people stand.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁלַח
wayyishlach
GROWS FROM
שׁלח
Send forth, release, let go, extend.
“stretched out” in this verse is wayyishlach. The KJV’s “stretched forth” carries the physical gesture, while שָׁלַח (shalach, “send forth/release”) also holds the sense of letting something go. The same root links Moses’ staff reaching toward heaven with the Bible’s language of release.
ALSO GROWS
shaliach: Messenger; one sent.
שָׁלִיחַ
The messenger carries the same root’s movement outward: someone is sent forth with a message.
Shiloach: Sent; the name associated with the waters of Siloam.
שִׁלֹחַ
The name of these waters carries the idea of what is sent forth, extending the root’s movement from Moses’ staff to flowing water.
וַתִּהֲלַךְ
vattihalakh
GROWS FROM
הלך
Walk, go.
“walked along” in this verse is vattihalakh. The fire’s movement uses the ordinary verb for walking or going, making it a force that travels over the ground. “Ran” preserves its speed; the Hebrew root also gives the startling image of fire walking.
ALSO GROWS
halakh: Walk, go.
הָלַךְ
This basic movement verb shows what the fire is doing: it goes across the earth.
hithallekh: Walk about, move around.
הִתְהַלֵּךְ
This related form keeps the sense of movement through a space, illuminating the fire’s path across the ground.
נָתַן
natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, place.
“gave” in this verse is natan. The KJV’s “sent” carries the storm’s outward motion; נתן (natan, “give/set/place”) also presents the thunder and hail as given into the scene. Moses sends the staff forth, while the LORD gives the storm.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift; something given.
מַתָּנָה
This noun preserves the root’s sense of giving, which sits beneath the KJV’s “sent.”
netinah: Giving, placing.
נְתִינָה
This related noun holds both parts of the root meaning: something is given and placed into the scene.
THE PATTERN
What comes from above reaches the ground as material force.
The LORD thunders in the heavens, and the Most High gives his voice; hailstones and coals of fire.The first messenger sounds, and there comes hail and fire mixed with blood, and they are thrown upon the earth; and the third part of the trees is burned down, and all green grass is burned down.THE THREAD
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told the Great House, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may dance a feast to me in the wilderness.The command “Let my people go” uses שָׁלַח (shalach, “send forth/release”), the same root as וַיִּשְׁלַח (wayyishlach, “he sent forth”) for Moses’ gesture here. One root carries both the people’s release from Egypt and the staff’s movement toward heaven.
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