Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Exodus 9:20 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 20. 20He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses:
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
At 9:20, the words “He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the…” establish a concrete step in “Hail, Warning, Partial Fear, and Renewed Refusal”.
Read It With
- Exodus 9:13–35
Read Exodus 9:20 with 9:13–35. At 9:20, the words “He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the…” establish a concrete step in “Hail, Warning, Partial Fear, and Renewed Refusal”. The whole unit shows: The hail speech explains preserved life and proclaimed name, permits Egyptians who fear the warning to shelter servants and animals, devastates exposed life and crops, and ends with Pharaoh's temporary confession and renewed sin.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Hail, Warning, Partial Fear, and Renewed Refusal belongs here because the hail speech explains preserved life and proclaimed name, permits Egyptians who fear the warning to shelter servants and animals, devastates exposed life and crops, and ends with Pharaoh's temporary confession and renewed sin. The placement moves Exodus from oppression and rescue toward covenant, rupture, repaired presence, and the completed dwelling. At 9:20, the wording “He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the…” makes this verse's contribution precise. At 9:20, the words “He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the…” establish a concrete step in “Hail, Warning, Partial Fear, and Renewed Refusal”.
Read Exodus 9:13–26 together
Why these verses belong together: Hail warning, shelter, and exposure forms one grammatical or narrative sequence and should not be divided into independent slogans.
Verse 13. 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.
Verse 14. 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.
Verse 15. 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.
Verse 16. 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.
Verse 17. 17 As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go?
Verse 18. 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.
Verse 19. 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.
Verse 20. 20 He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses:
Verse 21. 21 And he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field.
Verse 22. 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.
Verse 23. 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.
Verse 24. 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.
Verse 25. 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.
Verse 26. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail.
Follow the Context
- The unit opens at 9:13 by establishing the hail speech explains preserved life and proclaimed name, permits Egyptians who fear the warning to shelter servants and animals, devastates exposed life and crops, and ends with Pharaoh's temporary confession and renewed sin.
- By 9:35, the narrated speech, instruction, action, or outcome has completed the movement named “Hail, Warning, Partial Fear, and Renewed Refusal.”
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the…”
In plain language: At 9:20, the words “He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the…” establish a concrete step in “Hail, Warning, Partial Fear, and Renewed Refusal”.
The hail speech explains preserved life and proclaimed name, permits Egyptians who fear the warning to shelter servants and animals, devastates exposed life and crops, and ends with Pharaoh's temporary confession and renewed sin. The phrase belongs to 9:13–35.
Why it matters: Careful interpreters agree that the received text says what the hail speech explains preserved life and proclaimed name, permits Egyptians who fear the warning to shelter servants and animals, devastates exposed life and crops, and ends with Pharaoh's temporary confession and renewed sin. They disagree over source layers, date, historical recovery, archaeology, Hebrew details, ritual development, legal use, and canonical relationship in different proportions; this study treats the final form directly while marking those alternatives as probable or uncertain rather than settled fact.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
The plague account does not permit delight in civilian suffering, illness blame, natural-disaster certainty, racial hostility, speculative miracle science, or treating Egyptians as a timeless enemy people.
What Remains True
Because Exodus 9:20 contributes “He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the…” to “Hail, Warning, Partial Fear, and Renewed Refusal,” its proportionate enduring truth is: The narrative contests imperial refusal and displays divine power, while its escalating harm and hardening language require moral seriousness rather than triumphalism.
How It Can Shape Life
- At Exodus 9:20, the line “He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the…” serves this contextual meaning: The hail speech explains preserved life and proclaimed name, permits Egyptians who fear the warning to shelter servants and animals, devastates exposed life and crops, and ends with Pharaoh's temporary confession and renewed sin. The bounded action is: When opposing abusive power, protect noncombatants, refuse collective blame, and measure success by liberation without hiding collateral suffering.
Teach It Back
Explain why Exodus 9:20 says “He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the…” inside 9:13–35. Name its actor and effect, one historical, Hebrew, compositional, legal, ritual, or ethical limit, one person or group bearing risk, and one conclusion the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Exodus 9:13–35 — Hail, Warning, Partial Fear, and Renewed RefusalSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Exodus 9:20 remains inside this material limit: Careful interpreters agree that the received text says what the hail speech explains preserved life and proclaimed name, permits Egyptians who fear the warning to shelter servants and animals, devastates exposed life and crops, and ends with Pharaoh's temporary confession and renewed sin. They disagree over source layers, date, historical recovery, archaeology, Hebrew details, ritual development, legal use, and canonical relationship in different proportions; this study treats the final form directly while marking those alternatives as probable or uncertain rather than settled fact.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Exodus 9:13–35, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Exodus
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech, law, ritual vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Exod.xml, words and morphology for 9:13–35
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Exodus with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2026-08-12
Supports: Unit-bounded Hebrew, syntax, lexical, textual, name, measure, legal, ritual, and older-English notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Exodus PDF, complete 127-page PDF, translation and verse-attached translator notes for 9:13–35
Open source ↗open university course study guide
The Plagues Study Guide
Joel S. Baden and John J. Collins
Yale Bible Study, 2019 course edition
Supports: Canonical plague sequence, composite details, Pharaoh negotiations, hardening, moral difficulty, Egyptian setting, and limits of naturalistic reconstruction.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'The Plagues,' complete study guide pp. 1–4, 'Two Sources,' 'Purpose of the Plagues,' and 'Natural Phenomena'; applied to Exodus 9:13–35
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly source and redaction study
Taking Control of the Story: God Hardens Pharaoh's Heart
David Frankel
TheTorah.com, 2016
Supports: Distinct Hebrew hardening terms, narrative sequence, source-critical alternatives, moral agency problem, and limits of a single retributive explanation.
Exact location: Frankel, 'Taking Control of the Story: God Hardens Pharaoh's Heart,' complete article sections on the hardening roots, Priestly and non-Priestly sequences, editorial proposals, sea notices, and traditional ethical readings; applied to Exodus 9:13–35
Open source ↗