פירוש על שמות 9:3

‎הנה יד ה׳ הוֹיָה BEHOLD THE HAND OF THE LORD IS — The verb הויה is in the present tense, for so one says in the feminine gender of the past היתה, “she was”, of the future, תהיה, “she will be” and of the present, הוֹיָה, the latter form being similar to עוֹשָׂה and רוֹצָה and רוֹעָה (Fem. part. sing. Kal of ל"ה verbs).

BEHOLD, THE HAND OF THE ETERNAL IS UPON THY CATTLE WHICH ARE IN THE FIELD. Scripture speaks of the ordinary custom that most cattle are in the field, but the plague was also upon the cattle in the houses, just as it is said, And all the cattle of Egypt died.²⁰⁰Verse 6. It is possible that because every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians,²⁰¹Genesis 46:34. the Egyptians removed the cattle from the cities except for the use of horses for riding and asses for loading. Thus the cattle were located far from Egypt, grazing in the fields bordering upon Goshen, and in those pastures the cattle of the Egyptians and of the Israelites would intermingle. Therefore it was necessary that it be said, And the Eternal shall make a division between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt.²⁰²Verse 4. It may be that the division was necessary because since the pestilence was caused by the change of air, it should naturally spread over the whole district, [affecting the cattle of the Israelites as well], but G-d dealt wondrously with them.²⁰³See Joel 2:26.

אשר בשדה, which are in the field, etc. This is to be taken literally; they all died because the Egyptians left them in the fields as mentioned in 9,6.