Plague Six — Boils, The Magicians Cannot Stand — Scripture Illustrated

וְלֹא-יָכְלוּ הַחַרְטֻמִּים לַעֲמֹד לִפְנֵי מֹשֶׁה כִּי-הָיָה הַשְּׁחִין בַּחַרְטֻמִּים וּבְכָל-מִצְרָיִם

"And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians."

In the Hebrew

God instructs Moses and Aaron: take handfuls of soot from the furnace. Moses throws it into the sky before Pharaoh. It becomes fine dust over all the land of Egypt — and from that dust, festering boils break out on every person and every animal.

The magicians who once imitated Moses and Aaron, who declared "the finger of God," cannot now appear before Moses. The boils are on them. They have been removed from the story. Egypt's sacred experts are silenced by the very judgment they acknowledged.

And the text shifts: "the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart." Until now, the text described Pharaoh hardening his own heart. Now God is named as the agent. The pattern established in the first five plagues has set a course — and God is driving it to its conclusion.

Key Hebrew Word

שְׁחִין

shekhin — boil, sore. Festering, breaking-out sores that cover the skin. The same word is used elsewhere for the afflictions of Job and of leprosy-like skin conditions in Leviticus. Here it strikes every Egyptian and every animal — nothing escapes. The same magicians who once challenged Moses are now covered in boils and cannot stand.

Key Hebrew Word

וַיְחַזֵּק יְהוָה

vaykhazek Adonai — and the LORD hardened. This is the first plague where the hardening is explicitly credited to God rather than to Pharaoh. The text states directly: "the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh." The theological weight shifts — the process of judgment has taken on its own momentum.

Read in Torah — Exodus 9:8–12 →