Exodus 8:9

9 And Moses said to Pharaoh, "{I leave to you the honor} over me. When shall I pray for you and for your servants and for your people to cut off the frogs from you and from your houses? They will be left only in the Nile."

Exodus 8:9 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 8:9

And Moses said unto Pharaoh, glory over me
If thou canst; take every advantage against me of lessening my glory, and increasing thine own; or vaunt or boast thyself against me, as the phrase is rendered, ( Judges 7:2 ) ( Isaiah 10:15 ) or take this honour and glory to thyself over me, by commanding me, and fixing a time to pray for thee, and I will obey thy orders; which agrees with the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate Latin versions, and the paraphrase of Onkelos, "appoint", or "order for me"; that is, when I shall pray for thee; or do me this honour, to believe me in the sight of the people, to declare before them that thou dost believe that upon my prayer for thee this plague shall be removed:

when shall I entreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy
people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may
remain in this river only?
Moses agreed to entreat the Lord for him as he desired, but leaves it with him to fix the time for doing it; and this he did, that it might appear that the removal of the frogs, as well as the bringing of them, would not be owing to chance or to any natural cause, but to the Lord himself; and though Moses had no direction from the Lord for this, that is recorded, yet he might presume upon it, since he was made a god to Pharaoh, and had power to do as he pleased; and also he knew the mind and will of God, and might have now a secret impulse upon his spirit, signifying it to him: and besides, he had the faith of miracles, and strongly believed that God would work this by him, and at whatsoever time should be fixed.

Exodus 8:9 In-Context

7 And the magicians did likewise with their secret arts, and they brought up frogs over the land of Egypt.
8 And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to Yahweh, and let him remove the frogs from me and from my people, and let me release the people so that they can sacrifice to Yahweh."
9 And Moses said to Pharaoh, "{I leave to you the honor} over me. When shall I pray for you and for your servants and for your people to cut off the frogs from you and from your houses? They will be left only in the Nile."
10 And he said, "Tomorrow." And he said, "[Let it be] according to your word so that you will know that there is no one like Yahweh our God.
11 And the frogs will depart from you and from your house and from your servants. They will be left only in the Nile."

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "glorify yourself"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.