Exodus 8
New American Standard Bible
Frogs over the Land
8 [a]Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “(A)Let My people go, so that they may serve Me. 2 But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I am going to strike your entire territory with frogs. 3 The Nile will (B)swarm with frogs, which will come up and go into your house, and into your bedroom and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants, and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls. 4 So the frogs will come up on you, your people, and on all your servants.”’” 5 [b]Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘(C)Extend your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the [c]streams, and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’” 6 So Aaron extended his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the [d](D)frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. 7 However, (E)the soothsayer priests did the same with their secret arts, [e]making frogs come up on the land of Egypt.
8 Then Pharaoh (F)called for Moses and Aaron and said, “(G)Plead with the Lord [f]to remove the frogs from me and from my people; and (H)I will let the people go, so that they may sacrifice to the Lord.” 9 And Moses said to Pharaoh, “[g]The honor is yours to tell me: when shall I plead for you and your servants and your people, [h]that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, that they be left only in the Nile?”
10 Then he said, “Tomorrow.” So he said, “May it be according to your word, so that you may know that there is (I)no one like the Lord our God. 11 The (J)frogs will depart from you and your houses, and from your servants and your people; they will be left only in the Nile.” 12 Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and (K)Moses cried out to the Lord concerning the frogs which He had [i]inflicted upon Pharaoh. 13 The Lord did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. 14 So they piled them in heaps, and the land stank. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he [j]hardened his heart and (L)did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
The Plague of Insects
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Extend your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may turn into [k]gnats through all the land of Egypt.’” 17 They did so; and Aaron extended his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were [l]gnats on every [m]person and animal. All the dust of the earth turned into [n](M)gnats through all the land of Egypt. 18 The soothsayer priests tried with their secret arts to produce [o]gnats, but (N)they could not; so there were [p]gnats on every person and animal. 19 Then the soothsayer priests said to Pharaoh, “(O)This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was [q]hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
20 Then the Lord said to Moses, “(P)Rise early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, [r]as (Q)he comes out to the water; and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “(R)Let My people go, so that they may serve Me. 21 For if you are not going to let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and on your servants and on your people, and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians will be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they live. 22 (S)But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people are [s]living, so that no swarms of flies will be there, in order that you may know that [t](T)I, the Lord, am in the midst of the land. 23 I will [u]put a division between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign will occur.”’” 24 Then the Lord did so. And [v]thick swarms of flies entered the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants, and the land was (U)laid waste because of the swarms of flies in all the land of Egypt.
25 Then Pharaoh (V)called for Moses and Aaron and said, “(W)Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” 26 But Moses said, “It is not permissible for us to do so, because we will sacrifice to the Lord our God [w]that which is (X)an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice [x]that which is an abomination to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? 27 We must go a (Y)three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God, just as He [y]commands us.” 28 Pharaoh said, “(Z)I will let you go, so that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. (AA)Plead for me.” 29 Then Moses said, “Behold, I am going to leave you, and I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow; only do not let Pharaoh (AB)deal deceitfully again in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”
30 So (AC)Moses left Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. 31 The Lord did [z]as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained. 32 But Pharaoh [aa]hardened his heart this time also, and (AD)he did not let the people go.
Footnotes
- Exodus 8:1 Ch 7:26 in Heb
- Exodus 8:5 Ch 8:1 in Heb
- Exodus 8:5 Or canals
- Exodus 8:6 Lit frog
- Exodus 8:7 Lit and made
- Exodus 8:8 Lit that He remove
- Exodus 8:9 Lit Glory over me
- Exodus 8:9 Lit cut off the frogs from
- Exodus 8:12 Lit placed
- Exodus 8:15 Lit made heavy
- Exodus 8:16 Or lice
- Exodus 8:17 Or lice
- Exodus 8:17 I.e., Egyptians and their livestock
- Exodus 8:17 Or lice
- Exodus 8:18 Or lice
- Exodus 8:18 Or lice
- Exodus 8:19 Lit strong
- Exodus 8:20 Lit behold
- Exodus 8:22 Lit standing
- Exodus 8:22 Or I am the Lord in the midst of the earth
- Exodus 8:23 Lit set a ransom
- Exodus 8:24 Lit heavy
- Exodus 8:26 Lit the abomination of Egypt
- Exodus 8:26 Lit the abomination of Egypt
- Exodus 8:27 Lit says to us
- Exodus 8:31 Lit according to the word of Moses
- Exodus 8:32 Lit made heavy
Exodus 8
The Message
Strike Two: Frogs
8 1-4 God said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘God’s Message: Release my people so they can worship me. If you refuse to release them, I’m warning you, I’ll hit the whole country with frogs. The Nile will swarm with frogs—they’ll come up into your houses, into your bedrooms and into your beds, into your servants’ quarters, among the people, into your ovens and pots and pans. They’ll be all over you, all over everyone—frogs everywhere, on and in everything!’”
5 God said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Wave your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds. Bring up frogs on the land of Egypt.’”
6 Aaron stretched his staff over the waters of Egypt and a mob of frogs came up and covered the country.
7 But again the magicians did the same thing using their incantations—they also produced frogs in Egypt.
8 Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to God to rid us of these frogs. I’ll release the people so that they can make their sacrifices and worship God.”
9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “Certainly. Set the time. When do you want the frogs out of here, away from your servants and people and out of your houses? You’ll be rid of frogs except for those in the Nile.”
10-11 “Make it tomorrow.”
Moses said, “Tomorrow it is—so you’ll realize that there is no God like our God. The frogs will be gone. You and your houses and your servants and your people, free of frogs. The only frogs left will be the ones in the Nile.”
12-14 Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, and Moses prayed to God about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. God responded to Moses’ prayer: The frogs died off—houses, courtyards, fields, all free of frogs. They piled the frogs in heaps. The country reeked of dead frogs.
15 But when Pharaoh saw that he had some breathing room, he got stubborn again and wouldn’t listen to Moses and Aaron. Just as God had said.
Strike Three: Gnats
16 God said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and strike the dust. The dust will turn into gnats all over Egypt.’”
17 He did it. Aaron grabbed his staff and struck the dust of the Earth; it turned into gnats, gnats all over people and animals. All the dust of the Earth turned into gnats, gnats everywhere in Egypt.
18 The magicians tried to produce gnats with their spells but this time they couldn’t do it. There were gnats everywhere, all over people and animals.
19 The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is God’s doing.” But Pharaoh was stubborn and wouldn’t listen. Just as God had said.
Strike Four: Flies
20-23 God said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes down to the water. Tell him, ‘God’s Message: Release my people so they can worship me. If you don’t release my people, I’ll release swarms of flies on you, your servants, your people, and your homes. The houses of the Egyptians and even the ground under their feet will be thick with flies. But when it happens, I’ll set Goshen where my people live aside as a sanctuary—no flies in Goshen. That will show you that I am God in this land. I’ll make a sharp distinction between your people and mine. This sign will occur tomorrow.’”
24 And God did just that. Thick swarms of flies in Pharaoh’s palace and the houses of his servants. All over Egypt, the country ruined by flies.
25 Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron and said, “Go ahead. Sacrifice to your God—but do it here in this country.”
26-27 Moses said, “That would not be wise. What we sacrifice to our God would give great offense to Egyptians. If we openly sacrifice what is so deeply offensive to Egyptians, they’ll kill us. Let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to our God, just as he instructed us.”
28 Pharaoh said, “All right. I’ll release you to go and sacrifice to your God in the wilderness. Only don’t go too far. Now pray for me.”
29 Moses said, “As soon as I leave here, I will pray to God that tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. But don’t play games with us and change your mind about releasing us to sacrifice to God.”
30-32 Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to God. God did what Moses asked. He got rid of the flies from Pharaoh and his servants and his people. There wasn’t a fly left. But Pharaoh became stubborn once again and wouldn’t release the people.
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Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson