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1 Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still, 3 Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain. 4 And the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel. 5 And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land. 6 And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one. 7 And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go. 8 And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. 10 And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast. 11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians. 12 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken unto Moses. 13 And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14 For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15 For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. 16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. 17 As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go? 18 Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. 19 Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die. 20 He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses: 21 And he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field. 22 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. 23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt. 24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail. 27 And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. 28 Intreat the LORD (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer. 29 And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD's. 30 But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God. 31 And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled. 32 But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up. 33 And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the LORD: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth. 34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35 And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses.
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[AD 636] Isidore of Seville on Exodus 9:3
In the fifth place, Egypt is struck with the slaughter of animals or cattle. Frenzy is demonstrated here, and the stupidity of men who, like irrational animals, gave worship and the name of god to figures carved in wood or stone—figures not only of men but of animals, too. They worshiped Jupiter Ammon in a ram, Anubis in a dog, and Apis in a bull, and others, too, which Egypt admired as symbols of its gods. They believed that the divine splendor was present in these forms and offered pathetic acts of worship to them.

Source: QUESTIONS ON THE OLD TESTAMENT, EX 14:10
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Exodus 9:6
All the beasts: That is, many of all kinds.
[AD 636] Isidore of Seville on Exodus 9:9
After these plagues came rotten and swollen cysts, along with fever, as the sixth plague. In the ulcers the troubled and purulent evil of this age is signified; in the cysts swollen and inflated pride; in the fevers anger and the madness of rage. Up to this point such punishments as were inflicted on the world were tempered, insofar as its errors were represented by signs. Questions on the Old Testament, Exodus
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Exodus 9:12
Hardened: See the annotations above, chap. 4. 21, chap. 7. 3, and chap. 8. 15.
[AD 56] Romans on Exodus 9:16
And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. [Exodus 9:16] Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 9:16
With God there is no injustice. Thus [Paul] immediately added, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I raised you up, that I may show through you my power and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.’ ” Then, having said this, he draws a conclusion that looks both ways, that is, toward mercy and toward judgment: “Therefore,” he says, “he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens.” He shows mercy out of his great goodness; he hardens out of no unfairness at all. In this way neither does he who is saved have a basis for glorying in any merit of his own; nor does the man who is damned have a basis for complaining of anything except what he has fully merited. For grace alone separates the redeemed from the lost, all having been mingled together in the one mass of perdition, arising from a common cause which leads back to their common origin.

Source: Enchiridion 25.99
[AD 636] Isidore of Seville on Exodus 9:18
After these plagues come blows from on high: voices, thunder and hail, and flashing fire. Thunder means reproaches and divine rebukes, because it does not strike in silence. It makes sounds and sends its teaching down from heaven. By its teaching the world is castigated and can acknowledge its guilt.And he sends hail, which destroys the young vices that are still tender. He sends fire, too, knowing that there are thorns and spiny plants which that fire might feed on. The Lord says of them, “I came to cast fire on the earth.” This fire consumes the incentives to pleasure and lust.

Source: QUESTIONS ON THE OLD TESTAMENT, EX 14:12-13
[AD 373] Ephrem the Syrian on Exodus 9:24
“Hail and fire fell” together; neither did the hail extinguish the fire, nor did the fire melt the hail. Rather, it burst into flames in the hail as in a thicket and turned [the hail] as red as iron in the fire, blazing in the hail, and careful of the trees. The force [of the hail] “splintered the ancient trees,” but the fire in [the hail] protected the hedges, seed beds and vineyards.

Source: COMMENTARY ON EXODUS 9:3
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Exodus 9:27
See whether it is for this reason that God hardens the heart of Pharaoh, so that at a moment when he was not hardened he could say, “The Lord is just: I and my people are wicked.” His heart has to be hardened further, and he has to suffer more, that he may not, because he has been freed of his hardheartedness too quickly, think too lightly of that hardheartedness and so may have to have his heart hardened over and over again.

Source: ON PRAYER 29.16
[AD 373] Ephrem the Syrian on Exodus 9:27
Pharaoh said to Moses, “This time I have sinned.” And the previous times he hardened his heart, did he not sin? And even if he sinned the previous times, he did not sin the way he did this time. [The Lord] warned him to bring in the cattle, but he was not persuaded. This is why his offense was more serious in this plague than in all the [other] plagues.

Source: COMMENTARY ON EXODUS 9:4
[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Exodus 9:27
Moreover, as we are wont to sing in the hymn, “God is faithful, without deceit.” For this reason, as I mentioned above, we should believe without any doubt concerning Pharaoh that he became hardened because of God’s patience rather than his power. This fact we know clearly from his own admission, for when he was being punished he confessed in this way as justice compelled him: “The Lord is just; it is I and my subjects who are at fault.” With what feelings then does a Christian complain that God is unjust, when even a wicked king admits that he is just?”

Source: SERMON 101.5