Yahweh says, “In this you shall know that I am Yahweh. Behold: I will strike with the rod that is in my hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. The fish that are in the river will die and the river will become foul. The Egyptians will loathe to drink water from the river.” ’ ” Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your rod, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood. There will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’ ”
Moses and Aaron did so, as Yahweh commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. The fish that were in the river died. The river became foul. The Egyptians couldn’t drink water from the river. The blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 21 Or, they shall be weary, and abhor to drink.
Or, they shall be weary, and abhor to drink.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv17–21 Exo 7:17 Thus saith the LORD, In this thou…
Exo 7:17 Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I [am] the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that [is] in mine hand upon the waters which [are] in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.
Ver. 17. In this thou shalt know,] q.d., I shall really answer thee to that stomachful question of thine. {Exo 5:2} {See Trapp on "Exo 5:2"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv17–19 Because thou saidst, Who is the Lord? and, I…
Because thou saidst, Who is the Lord? and, I know not the Lord, Exo 5:2, thou shalt know him experimentally, and to thy cost. Behold, I will smite, viz. by Aaron’s hand, who shall do it by my command and direction. Thus Pilate is said to give Christ’s body to Joseph, Mar 15:45, because he commanded it to be delivered by others to him. The same action is ascribed to the principal and instrumental cause. The river Nile, which was one of their principal gods; and therefore it was inexcusable in them, that they would not renounce those feeble gods, which were unable to help not only their worshippers, but even themselves, nor embrace the service and commands of that God whose almighty power they saw and felt.
They shall be turned to blood, which was a very grievous plague to them; both because it was an eternal dishonour to their religion, and because from hence they had both their drink, Deu 11:10,11; Jer 2:18, and their meat, Num 11:5; for greater and lesser cattle they would not eat, Exo 8:26. And it was a very proper punishment for them, who had made that river an instrument for the execution of their bloody design against the Israelitish infants, Exo 1:22.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv17–21 Thus saith the Lord, in this thou shalt know…
Thus saith the Lord, in this thou shalt know that I am the Lord,.... By the following instance of his power and vengeance:
behold, I will smite with the rod that is in my hand; which though in the hand of Moses, Exo 7:18 yet he being his ambassador, and representing him, is said to be in the hand of the Lord; and with this he threatens to smite
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upon the waters which are in the river; the river Nile, and the canals thereof:
and they shall be turned to blood; and if this river was their god, it would abundantly appear that the God of the Hebrews was Jehovah, and above all gods, and particularly above theirs.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v20 The waters that were in the river were turned…
The waters that were in the river were turned into blood - This was a plague justly inflicted upon the Egyptians; for Nilus the river of Egypt was their idol; they and their land had so much benefit by that creature, that they served and worshipped it more than the creator. Also they had stained the river with the blood of the Hebrew children, and now God made that river all bloody; thus he gave them blood to drink, for they were worthy, Rev. xvi, 6. See the power of God. Every creature is that to us which he makes it to be, water or blood. See the mutability of all things under the sun, and what changes we may meet with in them. That which is water to day may be blood to morrow; what is always vain may soon become vexatious. And see what mischievous work sin makes! It is sin that turns our waters into blood.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv17–20 Verse 17. Behold, I will smite] Here commences the…
Verse 17. Behold, I will smite] Here commences the account of the TEN plagues which were inflicted on the Egyptians by Moses and Aaron, by the command and through the power of God. According to Archbishop Usher these ten plagues took place in the course of one month, and in the following order: -
The first, the WATERS turned into BLOOD, took place, he supposes, the 18th day of the sixth month; Ex 7:20.
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The second, the plague of FROGS, on the 25th day of the sixth month; Ex 8:2.
The third, the plague of LICE, on the 27th day of the sixth month; Ex 8:16.
The fourth, grievous SWARMS of FLIES, on the 29th day of the sixth month; Ex 8:24.
The fifth, the grievous MURRAIN, on the 2d day of the seventh month; Ex 9:3.
The sixth, the plague of BOILS and BLAINS, on the 3d day of the seventh month; Ex 9:10.
The seventh, the grievous HAIL, on the 5th day of the seventh month; Ex 9:18.
The eighth, the plague of LOCUSTS, on the 8th day of the seventh month; Ex 10:12.
The ninth, the THICK DARKNESS, on the 10th day of Abib, (April 30), now become the first month of the Jewish year; Ex 10:22. See Clarke on Ex 12:2.
The tenth, the SLAYING the FIRST-BORN, on the 15th of Abib; Ex 12:29. But most of these dates are destitute of proof.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv18–20 Exo 7:18. The Egyptians shall loathe to drink of…
Exo 7:18. The Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water — “There are a few wells,” says Harmer, “in Egypt, but their waters are not drunk, being unpleasant and unwholesome. The water of the Nile is what they universally make use of in this country, which is looked upon to be extraordinarily wholesome, and at the same time extremely delicious.” And he refers to Maillett and another author, as affirming that the Egyptians have been wont to excite thirst artificially, that they might drink the more of it. He then quotes, the Abbot Mascrier (let. 1, pp. 15, 16) in the following words: “The water of Egypt is so delicious that one would not wish the heat should be less, nor to be delivered from the sensation of thirst. The Turks find it so exquisitely charming that they excite themselves to drink of it by eating salt. It is a common saying among them, that if Mohammed had drunk of it he would have begged of God not to have died, that he might always have done it.” On these facts Harmer remarks as follows: “A person that never before heard of this delicacy of the water of the Nile, and of the large quantities which on that account are drunk of it, will, I am sure, find an energy in those words of Moses to Pharaoh, which he never observed before, The Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the river. They shall loathe to drink of that water which they used to prefer to all the waters in the universe — that which they had been wont eagerly to long for; and will rather drink of well-water, which in their country is detestable.” — Harmer, vol. 2. p. 295.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 19, 21 Turned to blood - This miracle would bear a…
Turned to blood - This miracle would bear a certain resemblance to natural phenomena, and therefore be one which Pharaoh might see with amazement and dismay, yet without complete conviction. It is well known that before the rise the water of the Nile is green and unfit to drink. About the 25th of June it becomes clear, and then yellow, and gradually reddish like ochre; an effect due to the presence of microscopic cryptogams and infusoria. The supernatural character of the visitation was tested by the suddenness of the change, by its immediate connection with the words and act of Moses, and by its effects. It killed the fish, and made the water unfit for use, neither of which results follows the annual discoloration.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 21 My hand. The rod was in the hand of…
My hand. The rod was in the hand of Moses, but he was God’s agent. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v17 Aaron lifted up the rod and smote the waters,…
Aaron lifted up the rod and smote the waters, &c.--Whether the water was changed into real blood, or only the appearance of it (and Omnipotence could effect the one as easily as the other), this was a severe calamity. How great must have been the disappointment and disgust throughout the land when the river became of a blood red color, of which they had a national abhorrence; their favorite beverage became a nauseous draught, and the fish, which formed so large an article of food, were destroyed. [See on Num 11:5.] The immense scale on which the plague was inflicted is seen by its extending to "the streams," or branches of the Nile--to the "rivers," the canals, the "ponds" and "pools," that which is left after an overflow, the reservoirs, and the many domestic vessels in which the Nile water was kept to filter. And accordingly the sufferings of the people from thirst must have been severe. Nothing could more humble the pride of Egypt than this dishonor brought on their national god.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv19–20 19. Stretch out thine hand upon the waters of…
19. Stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt — The language of this verse shows a minute acquaintance with the extensive and complicated water system which was peculiar to Egypt. The streams are the arms which branch out from the Nile, just north of modern Cairo, through the great plain of the delta, carrying the waters down to the Mediterranean. There are two principal and five or more lesser streams. The rivers are the canals running each side of the Nile, and receiving their waters through sluices at the time of the inundation. As the land sloped northward, the water was conveyed through main canals running along the southern or higher side of each field, and thence it spread through branches, straight or curved, down northward over the land. The ponds were the large standing lakes left by the inundation; and the pools — literally, every collection of their waters — were the smaller ponds and reservoirs which they used who lived at a distance from the river.
Wood… stone — This is also a peculiarly Egyptian touch, for the Nile water was kept in large stone tanks for public use, and was also filtered and purified for domestic use in smaller vessels.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 19, 21 17. The proof to be given to the Pharaoh…
17. The proof to be given to the Pharaoh that the God of the Hebrews is Jehovah: the waters of the Nile to be smitten and turned into blood (i.e. to assume the appearance of blood).
I will smite] As Di. remarks, the transition from the Divine ‘I’ just before to the ‘I’ of Moses is very abrupt: we expect, ‘I [i.e. Jehovah] will smite the waters that are in the Nile’ (cf. v. 25, ‘after that Jehovah had smitten the Nile’); hence it is probable (Di.) that the words, with the rod that is in mine hand, are introduced by the compiler from the narrative of E (in which, Moses being addressed, thine will have stood originally for mine). It these words are omitted, the ‘I’ in ‘I will smite’ will of course be Jehovah.
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the river] the Nile. So vv. 18 (thrice), 20 (twice), 21 (thrice), 24 (twice), 25. See on Exo_1:22.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv17–21 (17) In this thou shalt know that I am…
(17) In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord.—See the comment on Exo_7:5.
The rod that is in my hand, i.e., “in the hand of my servant.” God is here represented as about to do that which was actually done by Aaron (Exo_7:20). “Qui facit per alium, facit per se.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv17–21 In this thou shalt know that I am the…
In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Pharaoh had declared on the occasion specially referred to, I know not Jehovah, neither will I let Israel go". (Exo_5:2) He is now told that he shall "know Jehovah" in the coming visitation; he shall know, i.e., that there is a great and truly existent God who controls nature, does as he will even with the Nile, which the Egyptians regarded as a great deity; and can turn, if he see fit, the greatest blessings into curses. Behold, I will smite. God here speaks of the acts of Moses and Aaron as his own acts, and of their hands as his hand, because they were mere instruments through which he worked. The Roman law said: "Qui facit per alium, tacit per se." The waters shall be turned to blood. Not simply, "shall be of the colour of blood," as Rosenmuller paraphrases, but shall become and be, to all intents and purposes, blood. It is idle to ask whether the water would have answered to all the modern tests, microscopic and other, by which blood is known. The question cannot be answered. An that we are entitled to conclude from the words of the text is, that the water had all the physical appearance the look, taste, smell, texture of blood: and hence, that it was certainly not merely discoloured by the red soil of Abyssinia, nor by cryptegamic plants and infusoria. Water thus changed would neither kill fish, nor "stink," nor be utterly undrinkable.
Vers. 17-20. God"s punishments appropriate and terrible
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(vers. 17-20), There was something peculiarly appropriate in the first judgment falling upon the Nile. The Nile had been made the instrument of destruction to the Israelites by the first tyrannical Pharaoh (probably Seti I). It had been defiled with the blood of thousands of innocent victims. Crocodiles had in its waters crushed the tender limbs of those helpless infants, and had stained them with a gore that in God"s sight could never be forgotten. The king, and the persons who were his instruments, had in so doing polluted their own holy river, transgressed their own law, offered insults to one of the holiest of their own deities. And all for the destruction of God"s people. So, now that destruction was coming upon themselves, now that the firstborn were doomed, (Exo_4:23) and the catastrophe of the Red Sea was impending, the appropriate sign, which threatened carnage, was given the Nile was made to run with blood. The Egyptians had among their traditions one which said that the Nile had once for eleven days flowed with honey (Manetho ap. Syncell. "Chronograph." p. 55 A). As this supposed miracle indicated a time of peace and prosperity, so the present actual one boded war and destruction. Again, Pharaoh"s especial crime at this time was, that he despised God.
God therefore caused his own chief deity to be despised. There are indications that, about this period, a special Nile-worship had set in. Hapi, the Nile-god, was identified with Phthah and Ammon he was declared to stand "alone and self-created to be "the Father of all the gods," "the Chief on the waters," "the Creator of all good things," "the Lord of terrors and of choicest joys." "Mortals" were said to "extol him, and the cycle of Gods he stood above them all as the One Unseen and Inscrutable Being. "He is not graven in marble," it was said; "he is not beheld; he hath neither ministrants nor offerings; he is not adored in sanctuaries; his abode is not known; no shrine of his is found with painted figures; there is no building that can contain him;" and again, "unknown is his name in heaven; he doth not manifest his forms; vain are all representations." ("Records of the Past," vol. 4. pp. 107-113; vol. 10. pp. 41-2.) Menephthah was a special devotee of Hapi (ib. vol. 10. p. 38). Nothing could have seemed to him.more terrible and shocking, than the conversion of his pure, clean, refreshing, life-giving, god-like stream, into a mass of revolting putridity. And on the people the judgment was still more terrible. Under ordinary circumstances, the whole nation depended on the Nile for its water supply. There were no streams in the country other than the Nile branches, no brooks, no rills, no springs or fountains. The sudden conversion of all the readily accessible water even such as was stored in houses into blood, was sickening, horrible, tremendous. Scarcely could any severer punishment of the people have been devised. If a partial remedy had not been found (verse 24), it would have been impossible for them to endure through the "seven days" (verse 25). So fearful are the judgments of God upon those who offend him.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv19–20 throughout all
throughout all
"in every part of"
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translationWords
Yahweh
Moses
Aaron
Egypt
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.