Exodus 10:12

12 The LORD said to Moshe, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Mitzrayim for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Mitzrayim, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail has left."

Exodus 10:12 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 10:12

And the Lord said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand over the
land of Egypt
First one way, and then another, towards every quarter, and every part of the land, to signify that the following plague would come upon the whole land:

for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt;
the stretching out of his hand was to be the signal to them to come up and spread themselves over the land, which was brought about by the mighty power of God; for otherwise there was no such virtue in the hand or rod of Moses, to have produced so strange an event:

and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left;
the wheat and the rye, or rice, the grass, herbs, and plants, it had beat down, but not utterly destroyed, as well as some boughs and branches of trees which were left unbroken by it.

Exodus 10:12 In-Context

10 He said to them, "The LORD be with you if I will let you go with your little ones! See, evil is clearly before your faces.

11 Not so! Go now you who are men, and serve the LORD; for that is what you desire!" They were driven out from Par`oh's presence.

12 The LORD said to Moshe, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Mitzrayim for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Mitzrayim, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail has left."

13 Moshe stretched forth his rod over the land of Mitzrayim, and the LORD brought an east wind on the land all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.

14 The locusts went up over all the land of Mitzrayim, and rested in all the borders of Mitzrayim. They were very grievous. Before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.