Exodus 8:19-29

19 And the witches said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God. And the heart of Pharaoh was made hard, and he heard not them, as the Lord commanded (But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said).
20 And the Lord said to Moses, Rise thou (up) early, and stand before Pharaoh, for he shall go out to the waters; and thou shalt say to him, The Lord saith these things, Deliver thou my people, that it make sacrifice to me (The Lord saith these things, Let my people go, so that they can worship me);
21 that if thou wilt not deliver the people (but if thou wilt not let the people go), lo! I shall send into thee, and into thy servants, and into thy people, and into thine houses, all the kind(s) of flies; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full-filled with flies of diverse kinds, and all the land in which they shall be.
22 And in that day I shall make wonderful the land of Goshen, in which my people is, that flies be not there; and that thou know that I am the Lord in the midst of [the] earth; (But on that day I shall protect the land of Goshen, where my people be, so that there shall be no flies there; and so that thou shalt know that I, the Lord, am in the midst of the land;)
23 and I shall set parting betwixt my people and thy people; this sign shall be tomorrow (this miracle shall come tomorrow).
24 And the Lord did so. And a most grievous fly, that is, (a) multitude of flies, came into the house of Pharaoh, and into the houses of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt; and the land was corrupted of such flies (and the land was ruined by such a multitude of flies).
25 And Pharaoh called (for) Moses and Aaron, and said to them, Go ye, make ye sacrifice to the Lord your God, in this land (Go ye, and offer your sacrifices to the Lord your God, here in this land).
26 And Moses said, It may not be [done] so, for why shall we offer to the Lord our God the abominations of Egyptians; that if we shall slay before the Egyptians those things which they worship, they shall throw us down with stones. (And Moses said, It cannot be done so, for we shall not offer to the Lord our God the abominations of the Egyptians; and if, in front of the Egyptians, we kill those things which they worship, they shall throw us down with stones.)
27 We shall go the way of three days into wilderness, and we shall make sacrifice to our Lord God, as he commanded us. (We shall make a journey for three days into the wilderness, and we shall offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as he commanded us.)
28 And Pharaoh said, I shall deliver you, that ye make sacrifice to the Lord your God in desert (I shall let you go, so that ye can offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness); nevertheless go ye not (any) further; (and) pray ye for me.
29 And Moses said, I shall go out from thee, and I shall pray (to) the Lord; and the fly, that is, the multitude of flies, shall go away from Pharaoh, and from his servants, and (from) his people, tomorrow; nevertheless do not thou more deceive me, that thou deliver not the people to make sacrifice to the Lord (but do not thou deceive me again, and not allow the people to go, and offer sacrifices to the Lord).

Exodus 8:19-29 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.