Murrain (A Disease Of Livestock)

The murrain — a livestock disease — appears in scripture as the fifth Egyptian plague: a pestilence striking horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks, and remembered later in the Psalms as part of Yahweh's judgment on Egypt. UPDV renders the term as "pestilence."

The Plague on Egyptian Cattle

In Moses' announcement to Pharaoh, the plague is named in advance and confined to cattle in the open field: "look, the hand of Yahweh is on your cattle which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks: [there will be] a very grievous pestilence" (Exo 9:3). The execution comes the next day, with a sharp distinction drawn between the two peoples' livestock: "And Yahweh did that thing on the next day; and all the cattle of Egypt died; but of the cattle of the sons of Israel not one died" (Exo 9:6).

Remembered in the Psalms

The Asaph psalm that recounts the Exodus traditions includes the same plague, framed as Yahweh giving the Egyptians' "life over to the pestilence": "He made a path for his anger; He did not spare their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence" (Psa 78:50). The verse holds the plague of cattle within the wider sequence of acts by which Yahweh judged Egypt.