Exodus 9:10

Summary

Moses and Aaron take soot from the furnace, stand before Pharaoh, and Moses throws it toward the sky; as a result, boils that break out as blisters appear on both people and livestock throughout Egypt.

Key words

• pi'ach ("soot of", H6368) — masculine singular noun in construct state, linking it to ha-kivshan ("the furnace"), forming the phrase "soot of the furnace."
• va-yiz'roq ("and he sprinkled/scattered", H2236) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine singular, continuing the narrative chain and naming Moses as the sole subject of the throwing action.
• ha-shamayemah ("toward the heavens", H8064 + directional he) — the plural noun "heavens" with an appended directional he, indicating motion "toward" the sky rather than a static location.
• sh'chin ("boil", H7822) — masculine singular noun, the base term for the skin affliction that appears.
• poreach ("breaking out", H6524B) — qal participle, masculine singular, describing an ongoing or spreading action ("the one breaking out") rather than a completed event, modifying the blisters.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of four narrative (vav-consecutive) verbs: va-yikchu ("and they took"), va-ya'amdu ("and they stood"), va-yizroq ("and he sprinkled"), and va-yehi ("and it became"). This chain structure marks a sequence of discrete, sequential actions typical of Hebrew narrative prose: taking the soot, standing before Pharaoh, throwing the soot, and the resulting affliction appearing. The subject shifts from a plural "they" (Moses and Aaron, understood from context) for the first two verbs to the singular Mosheh ("Moses") explicitly named as the one who performs the throwing action, which the text marks by placing the object suffix oto ("it") before the subject noun Mosheh.

The directional he suffixed to ha-shamayemah ("the heavens") is a specific grammatical feature indicating direction of motion — "toward the heavens" — rather than simply describing the heavens as a location. This nuance is not always distinguishable in translation, where "into the air" or "toward heaven" render the same directional sense without marking the specific morphological device used in Hebrew.

The resulting affliction is described using a noun (sh'chin, "boil") followed by another noun ('ava'vu'ot, "blisters") in apposition, then modified by the participle poreach ("breaking out"), which grammatically suggests a durative or ongoing action — the blisters are described as being in a state of erupting rather than as a completed, static result.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders lifnei Far'oh ("before Pharaoh") as ἐναντίον Φαραὼ ("before/opposite Pharaoh") but omits an explicit equivalent for va-ya'amdu ("and they stood"), compressing the standing-and-facing action implied in the Hebrew into a single prepositional phrase. The LXX also translates sh'chin as ἕλκη ("sores/ulcers") and 'ava'vu'ot as φλυκτίδες ἀναζέουσαι ("boiling/seething blisters"), using a participle (ἀναζέουσαι) that conveys agitation or bubbling, differing from the Hebrew participle poreach ("breaking out/sprouting"). The Vulgate renders the same phrase as "vesicarum turgentium" ("swelling blisters"), emphasizing swelling rather than the "breaking out" sense of the Hebrew participle.