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In Exodus, the fifth plague kills only the Egyptians' livestock. In the Exagoge, a retelling of the Exodus as a Greek tragedy, God says the same plague will strike the hard-hearted Egyptians themselves, one of many changes to the plagues.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 9:3
Hebrew Bible
2 For if you refuse to release them and continue holding them, 3 then the hand of the Lord will surely bring a very terrible plague on your livestock in the field, on the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. 4 But the Lord will distinguish between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing will die of all that the Israelites have.”’” 5 The Lord set an appointed time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land.” 6 And the Lord did this on the next day; all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but of the Israelites’ livestock not one died. 7 Pharaoh sent representatives to investigate, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of Israel had died. But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, and he did not release the people.
Exagoge 140
Ezekiel the Tragedian
Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry
132 With this rod you will bring about all these plagues. 133 First the river will run red with blood, 134 and every spring, stream, and stagnant pool. 135 Then frogs and lice will swarm over the whole land. 136 Next, ashes from the furnace scattered around 137 will break out into painful sores on people and animals. 138 Swarms of flies will come and torment 139 the bodies of the Egyptians. After that, 140 disease and death will strike those hard hearts. 141 Heaven's anger, unleashed from above, 142 will pour down fire, hail, and a deadly storm 143 on people, animals, and every crop of the earth. 144 Then darkness will cover the whole land 145 for three whole days, and locusts will devour 146 all the food, all the fruit, and every blade of grass. 147 Then I will kill every firstborn child 148 and crush the arrogant pride of this wicked nation.
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Notes and References
“... The tradition of the Egyptian plagues also vacillates in early Jewish literature with regard to their number, order, and character. It is true, of course, that the plagues are not enumerated in Exodus, thus leaving open the possibility for a certain degree of imprecision and vagueness. The influence of Pentateuchal tradition in Exod 7–13 is traceable to a certain extent in these later narratives, but other traditions of various origins have also been incorporated. Josephus (Ant. 2.293–314), obviously dependent on the Pentateuchal account, leaves out the fifth plague, cattle disease. (1) In the Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian, the ten plagues of the Exodus are presented not as a narrative but by means of a prophetic speech attributed to God (132–51; for an extensive discussion of this text, cf. Jacobson, Exagoge, 112–21). However, certain features are at variance with the Pentateuchal account: (a) The plague of boils strikes people only in Ezekiel while in Exodus both people and animals are affected. (b) In Ezekiel the plague of boils is fourth (between gnats and flies) rather than sixth (after pestilence) as in Exodus. (c) In Ezekiel darkness comes before locusts; in Exodus locusts come before darkness. (d) In Ezekiel the plague of pestilence kills people while in Exodus only animals are killed (cf. Ps 78:50). Jacobson points out that some rabbinic accounts reconcile these two traditions by having the pestilence indirectly affect people (Exagoge, 117; cf. Midr. Exod. 9:1–3; Pesiq. R. 197a) ...”
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