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Sixth Plague: The Boils. So the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Each of you take handfuls of soot from a kiln, and in the presence of Pharaoh let Moses scatter it toward the sky. It will turn into fine dust over the whole land of Egypt and cause festering boils[a] on human being and beast alike throughout the land of Egypt.

10 So they took the soot from a kiln and appeared before Pharaoh. When Moses scattered it toward the sky, it caused festering boils on human being and beast alike. 11 Because of the boils the magicians could not stand in Moses’ presence, for there were boils on the magicians as well as on the rest of the Egyptians.

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Footnotes

  1. 9:9 Boils: the exact nature of the disease is not clear. Semitic cognates, for example, suggest the Hebrew root means “to be hot” and thus point to some sort of inflammation. The fact that soot taken from the kiln is the agent of the disease would point in the same direction. See further Lv 13:18–23; Dt 28:35; 2 Kgs 20:7.

    Lord, do your eyes not search for honesty?
You struck them, but they did not flinch;
    you laid them low, but they refused correction;
They set their faces harder than stone,
    and refused to return.(A)

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