Exodus 8:1-15

Frogs over the Land

1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the LORD, "¹Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

2 "But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite your whole territory with frogs.

3 "The Nile will ²swarm with frogs, which will come up and go into your house and into your bedroom * and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and on your people, and into your ovens and into your kneading bowls.

4 "So the frogs will come up on you and your people and all your servants.""'

5 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, '³Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the streams and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.' "

6 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the ⁴frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

7 ⁵The magicians did the same with their secret arts, making frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

8 Then Pharaoh ⁶called for Moses and Aaron and said, "⁷Entreat the LORD that He remove the frogs from me and from my people; and ⁸I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD."

9 Moses said to Pharaoh, "The honor is yours to tell me: when shall I entreat for you and your servants and your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, that they may be left only in the Nile?"

10 Then he said, "Tomorrow." So he said, "May it be according to your word, that you may know that there is ⁹no one like the LORD our God.

11 "The ¹⁰frogs will depart from you and your houses and your servants and your people; they will be left only in the Nile."

12 Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and ¹¹Moses cried to the LORD concerning * the frogs which He had inflicted upon Pharaoh.

13 The LORD did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, the courts, and the fields.

14 So they piled them in heaps, and the land became foul.

15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and ¹²did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

Exodus 8:1-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 8

In this chapter Pharaoh is threatened with the plague of frogs, in case he refused to let Israel go, which accordingly was brought upon him, Ex 8:1-6 and though the magicians did something similar to it, yet these were so troublesome to Pharaoh, that he promised to let the people go, and sacrifice to God, if they removed; and a time being fixed for the removal of them, it was accordingly done at the entreaty of Moses and Aaron, Ex 8:7-14 but there being a respite, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and the plague of lice is ordered, and which was executed; and though this the magicians essayed to do, and could not, but owned it to be the finger of God, yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, Ex 8:15-19 wherefore he is threatened with a swarm of flies, which should not infest Goshen, only the places where the Egyptians dwelt, and it was so, Ex 8:20-24 upon which Pharaoh called for Moses, and declared himself willing the people would sacrifice in the land; but this not being satisfactory, he agreed they should go into the wilderness, but not so far; and on the account of the entreaty of Moses, the plague was removed; but still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not let the people go, Ex 8:25-32.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 3:18; Exodus 4:23; Exodus 5:1, 3
• 2. Psalms 105:30
• 3. Exodus 7:19
• 4. Psalms 78:45; Psalms 105:30
• 5. Exodus 7:11, 22
• 6. Exodus 8:25; Exodus 9:27; Exodus 10:16
• 7. Exodus 8:28; Exodus 9:28; Exodus 10:17; Numbers 21:7; 1 Kings 13:6
• 8. Ex 8:15, 29, 32
• 9. Exodus 9:14; Deuteronomy 4:35, 39; Deuteronomy 33:26; 2 Samuel 7:22; 1 Chronicles 17:20; Psalms 86:8; Isaiah 46:9; Jeremiah 10:6, 7
• 10. Exodus 8:13
• 11. Exodus 8:30; Exodus 9:33; Exodus 10:18
• 12. Exodus 7:4

Footnotes

• [a]. Ch 7:26 in Heb
• [b]. Ch 8:1 in Heb
• [c]. Or "canals"
• [d]. Lit "frog"
• [e]. Or "soothsayer priests"
• [f]. Lit "thus"
• [g]. Lit "and made"
• [h]. Lit "Glory over me"
• [i]. Lit "cut off"
• [j]. Lit "placed"
• [k]. I.e. had a bad smell
• [l]. Lit "made heavy"