Exodus 7:20

20 Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he ¹lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the ²water in the Nile turned into blood.

Exodus 7:20 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 7:20

And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded
Moses delivered the rod to Aaron, who took it and went to the water side:

and he lift up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river;
or "in that river" ^F9, the river Nile, on the brink of which Pharaoh then stood:

in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants;
his nobles and courtiers who tended him in his walk to the water; for this was done before he returned to his palace:

and all the waters that were in the river were turned into blood;
not only the face of the waters looked like blood, but they were really turned into it; and not only the surface of the water, but all the water that was in the river, wherever it flowed, and as far as it flowed in the land of Egypt.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 (rayb) (en tw potamw) Sept. "in eo rivo", Junius and Tremellius, Piscator.

Exodus 7:20 In-Context

18 The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile."'"

19 And the LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.'"

20 Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood.

21 And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 17:9
• 2. Psalms 78:44; Psalms 105:29