What Does Exodus 9:31 Mean in the King James?
And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
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.
“smitten” 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.
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.THE THREAD
But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up.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.
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