The Meaning of Exodus 7:9 Explained

Exodus 7:9

KJV: When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.

YLT: When Pharaoh speaketh unto you, saying, Give for yourselves a wonder; then thou hast said unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast before Pharaoh -- it becometh a monster.'

Darby: When Pharaoh shall speak to you, saying, Do a miracle for yourselves, then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy staff and cast it before Pharaoh it will become a serpent.

ASV: When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Show a wonder for you; then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

When Pharaoh  shall speak  unto you, saying,  Shew  a miracle  for you: then thou shalt say  unto Aaron,  Take  thy rod,  and cast  [it] before  Pharaoh,  [and] it shall become a serpent. 

What does Exodus 7:9 Mean?

Context Summary

Exodus 7:1-13 - Pharaoh Stubborn Against Israel's Release
How often we say in a similar tone, "I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?" Forty years in the wilderness, in absolute solitude, had robbed Moses of the eloquence with which Stephen credits him in earlier life. Like Jeremiah, he felt himself a child and unable to speak.
It is an awful moment when the human will sets itself in antagonism to the divine. If it will not bend, it must break. For once the scion of an imperial race had met his superior. It were better for the potsherd to strive with the potsherds of the earth! But God is not unreasonable. At the outset He endeavored to prove to Pharaoh who and what He was. One of the chief reasons for the plagues, as well as of these miracles, was to establish the fact that the Jehovah of the Hebrews was the great Being who lives behind the whole apparatus of nature. [source]

Chapter Summary: Exodus 7

1  Moses and Aaron are encouraged to go again to Pharaoh
8  Aaron's rod is turned into a serpent
11  The sorcerers do the like; but their rods are swallowed up by Aaron's
13  Pharaoh's heart is hardened
14  God's message to Pharaoh
19  The river is turned into blood; and the consequent distress of the Egyptians

What do the individual words in Exodus 7:9 mean?

when speaks to you Pharaoh saying Show for yourselves' a miracle then you shall say to Aaron take - your rod and cast [it] before Pharaoh [and] let it become a serpent
כִּי֩ יְדַבֵּ֨ר אֲלֵכֶ֤ם פַּרְעֹה֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר תְּנ֥וּ לָכֶ֖ם מוֹפֵ֑ת וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֶֽל־ אַהֲרֹ֗ן קַ֧ח אֶֽת־ מַטְּךָ֛ וְהַשְׁלֵ֥ךְ לִפְנֵֽי־ פַרְעֹ֖ה יְהִ֥י לְתַנִּֽין

יְדַבֵּ֨ר  speaks 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: דָּבַר 
Sense: to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, threaten, sing.
אֲלֵכֶ֤ם  to  you 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine plural
Root: אֶל  
Sense: to, toward, unto (of motion).
פַּרְעֹה֙  Pharaoh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: פַּרְעֹה  
Sense: the common title of the king of Egypt.
לֵאמֹ֔ר  saying 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: אָמַר 
Sense: to say, speak, utter.
תְּנ֥וּ  Show 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: יָתַן 
Sense: to give, put, set.
לָכֶ֖ם  for  yourselves' 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine plural
מוֹפֵ֑ת  a  miracle 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: מֹופֵת  
Sense: wonder, sign, miracle, portent.
וְאָמַרְתָּ֣  then  you  shall  say 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive perfect, second person masculine singular
Root: אָמַר 
Sense: to say, speak, utter.
אַהֲרֹ֗ן  Aaron 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: אַהֲרֹון  
Sense: brother of Moses, a Levite and the first high priest.
קַ֧ח  take 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine singular
Root: יָקַח 
Sense: to take, get, fetch, lay hold of, seize, receive, acquire, buy, bring, marry, take a wife, snatch, take away.
אֶֽת־  - 
Parse: Direct object marker
Root: אֹות 
Sense: sign of the definite direct object, not translated in English but generally preceding and indicating the accusative.
מַטְּךָ֛  your  rod 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, second person masculine singular
Root: מַטֶּה  
Sense: staff, branch, tribe.
וְהַשְׁלֵ֥ךְ  and  cast  [it] 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Imperative, masculine singular
Root: שָׁלַךְ  
Sense: to throw, cast, hurl, fling.
לִפְנֵֽי־  before 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: לִפְנֵי 
Sense: face.
פַרְעֹ֖ה  Pharaoh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: פַּרְעֹה  
Sense: the common title of the king of Egypt.
יְהִ֥י  [and]  let  it  become 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect Jussive, third person masculine singular
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
לְתַנִּֽין  a  serpent 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine singular
Root: תַּנִּין  
Sense: dragon, serpent, sea monster.