Discovery BoxExodus 9:23 
Context9:23 When Moses extended 1 his staff toward the sky, the Lord 2 sent thunder 3 and hail, and fire fell to the earth; 4 so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.
Exodus 9:11
Context9:11 The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.
Exodus 9:32
Context9:32 But the wheat and the spelt 5 were not struck, for they are later crops.) 6
1 tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next clause in view of the emphasis put on the subject, Yahweh, by the disjunctive word order of that clause.
2 tn By starting the clause with the subject (an example of disjunctive word order) the text is certainly stressing that Yahweh alone did this.
3 tn The expression נָתַן קֹלֹת (natan qolot) literally means “gave voices” (also “voice”). This is a poetic expression for sending the thunder. Ps 29:3 talks about the “voice of Yahweh” – the God of glory thunders!
4 sn This clause has been variously interpreted. Lightning would ordinarily accompany thunder; in this case the mention of fire could indicate that the lightning was beyond normal and that it was striking in such a way as to start fires on the ground. It could also mean that fire went along the ground from the pounding hail.
5 tn The word כֻּסֶּמֶת (kussemet) is translated “spelt”; the word occurs only here and in Isa 28:25 and Ezek 4:9. Spelt is a grain closely allied to wheat. Other suggestions have been brought forward from the study of Egyptian crops (see a brief summary in W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:363-64).
6 tn Heb “for they are late.”
