What Does Exodus 9:31 Mean?
And the flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bud.
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 the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled.THE KEY
The verse measures the blow by growth stage: the hail reaches what has emerged, and each crop is named at its precise stage.
THE MEANING
The hail strikes barley already in green ear and flax already in bloom. The verse names each plant at the moment of impact, showing that the same event reaches living things according to where their growth has arrived.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A single blow reaches everything equally, regardless of its stage.
THE ROOT
אָבִיב
aviv
GROWS FROM
אבב
ʾ-b-b
Fresh, tender green grain; the young ear as it emerges.
“in the ear” in this verse is aviv. The Hebrew calls the barley aviv, naming its fresh, visible growth stage. The same word names Abib, the month associated with fresh grain, so the crop’s condition also marks the season of the blow.
ALSO GROWS
aviv: Young, green grain in the ear.
אָבִיב
This is the barley’s exact stage when the hail reaches it.
ḥodesh ha-aviv: The month named for the fresh grain.
חֹדֶשׁ הָאָבִיב
The crop’s stage carries a seasonal marker, locating the impact within the grain’s cycle.
נֻכָּתָה
nukkātāh
GROWS FROM
נכה
n-k-h
To strike, smite, deal a blow.
“struck” in this verse is nukkātāh. נכה gives the scene a physical edge: a blow lands on growth already visible. The same root describes crops left unstruck because they have not yet grown, making the difference one of developmental stage.
ALSO GROWS
makkāh: A blow or striking; also a plague.
מַכָּה
It makes the hail’s effect concrete as an impact on the crops.
mukkēh: One who has been struck or afflicted.
מֻכֵּה
It names the condition left by the blow, completing the movement from impact to damage.
THE PATTERN
Growth unfolds in distinct stages, and timing shapes what a moment can reach.
All the days of the earth, sowing and reaping, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not stop.To everything there is an appointed time, and a time for every delight under the heavens.The soil bears fruit by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.THE THREAD
But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they were still hidden.Exodus 9:32 repeats נכה (n-k-h, to strike) and names wheat and rye as not yet grown. Together, the verses trace the hail’s reach through the crops’ different stages of growth.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us