Exodus 8:3

3 The river will swarm with frogs. They will go up, enter your palace and go into your bedroom, onto your bed. They will enter the houses of your servants and your people and go into your ovens and kneading bowls.

Exodus 8:3 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 8:3

And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly
The river Nile; and though water, and watery places, naturally produce these creatures, yet not in such vast quantities as to cover a whole country, and so large an one as Egypt, and this done at once, immediately; for they were all produced instantaneously, and in one day were spread all over the nation, and removed the next: and besides what follows is equally miraculous,

which shall go up and come into thine house;
which though they may come up out of rivers, and be upon the banks and the meadows adjacent, yet are never known to come into houses, and especially into bedchambers and other places after mentioned, being not a bold but timorous creature, and shuns the sight and company of men; but these came even into the royal palace, nor could his guards keep them out:

and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed;
and by their leaping upon him, and croaking in his ears, disturb his rest:

and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people
both nobles and common people, and not only get into their houses, but upon their persons, on their hands when about their business, on their laps, and into their bosoms, as they sat; which must be very offensive and troublesome to them, what with their ugly shape, croaking noise and filthy smell, and the disagreeable touch of them, leaping on them, and even upon their food, and all vessels used for the same, which must make it very nauseous and distasteful to them:

and into thy ovens;
where they baked their bread, and would be now hindered from the use of them:

and into thy kneadingtroughs;
where they kneaded their dough, and made it into loaves, and prepared it for the oven; or the "dough" F18 itself, which they leaped upon and licked, and made it loathsome for use.


FOOTNOTES:

F18 (Kytwravmb) "in tuas pastas", Pagninus; "in farinam tuam aquis conspersam", Tigurine version; "in reliquiis ciborum tuorum", V. L.

Exodus 8:3 In-Context

1 ADONAI said to Moshe, "Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Here is what ADONAI says: "Let my people go, so that they can worship me.
2 If you refuse to let them go, I will strike all your territory with frogs.
3 The river will swarm with frogs. They will go up, enter your palace and go into your bedroom, onto your bed. They will enter the houses of your servants and your people and go into your ovens and kneading bowls.
4 The frogs will climb all over you, your people and your servants."'"
5 ADONAI said to Moshe, "Say to Aharon, 'Reach out your hand with your staff over the rivers, canals and ponds; and cause frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.'"
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.