Exodus 9:7

Summary

Pharaoh sends (someone) to verify the outcome of the plague, and the text notes with emphasis that not a single animal from the livestock of Israel had died. Despite this, Pharaoh's heart became unresponsive, and he did not let the people go.

Key words

• va-yishlach ("and he sent", H7971G) — qal narrative form of shalach; marks the next event in the story chain, Pharaoh initiating an action (sending, without a stated object in the Hebrew).
• hinneh ("there!", H2009) — interjection that draws attention to the verified fact, marking the report as a direct observation within the narrative.
• mi-miqneh ("from the livestock of", H9006 + H4735) — preposition attached to a construct noun, specifying "from among" the livestock, reinforcing the totality implied by ad-echad ("up to one").
• yikbad ("it was unresponsive/heavy", H3513H) — qal perfect of a root meaning "to be heavy"; describes the heart's condition as a completed state, using the same root that recurs across the plague narratives.
• shilach ("he let go", H7971H) — piel perfect of the same root used in word 2 (shalach), but here intensive, describing full release; negated by lo', denying that release occurred.

What the text says

The verse opens with va-yishlach par'oh ("and Pharaoh sent"), a narrative qal verb with no explicit direct object stated in the Hebrew — the text does not specify whom Pharaoh sent, only that an act of sending occurred. This is followed by ve-hinneh, an interjection that shifts the narrative into a reported observation: "and behold." The clause lo' met mi-miqneh Yisra'el ad-echad ("not one had died from the livestock of Israel, up to one") uses the construct chain miqneh Yisra'el ("livestock of Israel") combined with the phrase ad-echad ("up to one") to stress totality — the negation covers every single animal without exception.

The second half of the verse repeats a formula seen elsewhere in the plague narrative: va-yikbad lev par'oh ("and the heart of Pharaoh was unresponsive"), using the construct lev par'oh ("heart of Pharaoh") with the qal perfect yikbad, from a root meaning "to be heavy" or "to be unresponsive." This is followed by ve-lo' shilach et-ha'am ("and he did not let the people go"), where shilach is the piel (intensive) form of the same root used for "sent" in the verse's opening word (yishlach), though here negated. The direct object marker et introduces ha'am ("the people") explicitly as the object of the negated action.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew verb va-yishlach ("and he sent") lacks a stated object or purpose; the LXX renders this with idōn ("having seen"), shifting the verb from "send" to "see," and frames the entire clause as Pharaoh's perception rather than an act of sending. The Vulgate renders it as misit... ad videndum ("he sent to see"), supplying an explicit purpose ("to see") not present in the Hebrew wording itself. The BSB similarly adds "officials" as the object of "sent," an addition not found in the Hebrew text.