What Does Exodus 9:33 Mean?
And Moses went out from Pharaoh, out of the city, and spread out his palms to the LORD, and the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain was not poured upon the earth.
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 went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the LORD: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth.THE KEY
The Hebrew names thunder as “voices,” so Moses’ open palms are followed by a storm whose voices fall silent.
THE MEANING
The verse places an open-handed appeal amid upheaval, then the thunder, hail, and rain cease. The change is visible in the world around the reader: the earth is left without rain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The world outside the self is untouched by appeal; here, the storm’s voices and rain cease after it.
THE ROOT
הַקֹּלוֹת
haqqōlōt
GROWS FROM
קוֹל
qōl
Voice or sound; its plural, קוֹלוֹת (qōlōt), can mean “thunders.”
Under “thunders” is a word also used for voice and sound. The storm’s voices fall silent, so the verse’s quieting reaches beyond rain stopping.
ALSO GROWS
voice: An audible voice or spoken sound.
Psalm 29:3 uses this word for the LORD’s voice over the waters, joining voice, thunder, and water in one image.
thunders: The plural names the storm’s thunder.
Here those “voices” cease along with the hail, marking the storm’s silence.
וַיִּפְרֹשׂ
wayyiprōś
GROWS FROM
פרשׂ
pāraś
Spread out, extend, or stretch forth.
“spread out his palms” in this verse is wayyiprōś. The Hebrew verb shows Moses spreading his palms outward. The same root describes hands extended in appeal, putting a bodily gesture immediately before the storm’s violence stops.
ALSO GROWS
stretch forth: Extend the hands toward another.
Psalm 143:6 uses the same verb for hands stretched toward the LORD, joining open hands with thirst like dry land.
spread forth: Extend the palms toward heaven.
In 1 Kings 8:22, Solomon spreads his hands toward heaven in prayer; the same gesture marks an appeal directed upward.
מֹשֶׁה
Mōšeh
GROWS FROM
משׁה
māšāh
Draw out; the name is linked to being drawn out from water.
Moses’ name carries water into the scene: he is named through being drawn out from it, then appears here as rain is withheld. The verse holds “drawn from water” and “water withheld” in one figure.
ALSO GROWS
draw him out: Draw someone out from water.
Exodus 2:10 explains Moses’ name through the words “I drew him out” of the water.
Moses: The one drawn out from water.
His name brings the image of water into a verse where the rain stops falling.
THE PATTERN
An appeal is embodied, and the condition of the land answers through rain withheld or restored.
And Moses said to him, As I go out of the city, I will spread out my palms to the LORD. The thunder shall stop, and there shall be no more hail, so that you may perceive that the earth is the LORD's.Then hear and respond in heaven, and release the falling short of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you instruct them in the good way in which they should walk, and give rain upon your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.And again he prayed, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth sprouted her fruit.THE THREAD
I spread my hands to you; my living soul thirsts for you as a parched land. Selah.Psalm 143:6 uses פֵּרַשְׂתִּי (pērastî, “I stretch forth”), from פָּרַשׂ (pāraś, “spread out”), the same root as Moses’ gesture here. There, extended hands accompany the living soul’s thirst like dry land; here, extended hands are followed by rain stopping over the earth.
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