Exodus 10:14

14 which ascended on all the land of Egypt, and sat in all the coasts of Egyptians (and settled on all the land of Egypt); and the locusts were unnumberable, and such were not before that time, neither shall come afterward.

Exodus 10:14 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 10:14

And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt
Being raised up by the wind in the places where they were generated, they flew and spread themselves all over the land, being in a wonderful manner produced and multiplied by the power of God:

and rested in all the coasts of Egypt;
in every part of it where the Egyptians dwelt, and where there were meadows, pastures, fields, gardens, orchards; here they lighted and fed, excepting the land of Goshen, where Israel dwelt, which must be thought to be exempted from this plague, as from the rest.

Very grievous were they;
because of the mischief that they did, and because of their multitude, for they were innumerable, as the Vulgate Latin version renders it, and as it is, ( Psalms 105:34 ) ,

there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such;
there were none before, and there would be none afterwards like them, which Moses knew by a spirit of prophecy. If this is to be understood of their size, they must be very large; in the year 1556, there were locusts at Milain that were a span long, and had six feet, and these like the feet of rats, and there was one four times bigger than the rest, which was taken and kept by a citizen, and would hiss like a serpent when it saw that no food was set before it ^F14; yea, Pliny ^F15 speaks of locusts in India three feet long; and what Moses here says is not contradicted in ( Joel 2:2 ) because his words may be understood of the Chaldean army, of which the locusts were an emblem; and besides, each may be restrained to the country in which they were, as that none ever before or since were seen in Egypt as these, though they might be in other countries; and so those in Joel's time were such as never before or since were seen in the land of Judea, though they might be in other places.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 Frantzii Hist. Animal. Sacr. par. 5. c. 4. p. 800.
F15 Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 29.)

Exodus 10:14 In-Context

12 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, Hold forth thine hand on the land of Egypt, to a locust, that is, (a) multitude of locusts, that it ascend on the land, and devour all the herb which is left of the hail. (And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch forth thy hand over the land of Egypt, for a multitude of locusts to ascend upon the land, and devour all the herbage that be left from the hail.)

13 And Moses held forth the rod on the land of Egypt (And so Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt), and the Lord brought in a burning wind all that day and night; and when the morrowtide was made, the burning wind raised [up] (the) locusts,

14 which ascended on all the land of Egypt, and sat in all the coasts of Egyptians (and settled on all the land of Egypt); and the locusts were unnumberable, and such were not before that time, neither shall come afterward.

15 And those covered all the face of the earth, and wasted all things; therefore the herb of the earth was devoured, and whatever (thing) of apples was in (the) trees, which the hail had left, it was devoured; and utterly no green thing was left in trees, and in herbs of the earth, in all Egypt (and utterly nothing green was left on the trees, or on the plants of the land, in all of Egypt).

16 Wherefore Pharaoh hasted, and called (for) Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have sinned against your Lord God, and against you (I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you);