= Exodus 8
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== Exodus 8
1 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, "Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, 'Thus says the Lord, `Let my people go, that they may serve me.

2 And if you refuse to let them go, know then, I will strike all of Egypt with frogs:

3 And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly: they shall go into your house, and into your bedchamber, and on your bed, and into the house of your servants, and upon your people, and into the ovens, and into the cooking bowls:

4 And the frogs shall come upon you, and upon your people, and upon all your servants.`'"

5 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, "Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth the hand with your rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt."

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

7 Yet the Pharaoh's magicians also did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.

8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, "Entreat the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord."

9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh, "By your command, when shall I entreat for you, and for your servants, and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and your houses, that they may remain in the river only?"

10 And he said, "Tomorrow." And he said, "It shall be according to your word: that you may know that there is none else like unto the Lord our God.

11 And the frogs shall depart from you, and from your houses, and from your servants, and from your people; they shall remain in the river only."

12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried out unto the Lord because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh.

13 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died from out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields.

14 And they gathered them together in heaps: and the land stank.

15 But when Pharaoh saw that the frogs were gone, he hardened his heart, and did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

16 And the Lord said unto Moses, "Say unto Aaron, Stretch out your staff and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt."

17 And they did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and struck the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

18 And the Pharaoh's magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not; so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.

19 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God," yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and still he did not listen to them; as the Lord had said.

20 And the Lord said unto Moses, "Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; wait for him when he comes to the water, and say unto him, 'Thus saith the Lord, `Let my people go, that they may serve me.

21 Else, if you will not let my people go, then know, I will send swarms of flies upon you and your servants, and your people, and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground where they tread.

22 And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; so that you may know I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.

23 And I will put a division between my people and thy people: tomorrow shall this sign be.`'

24 And the Lord did so; and there came a massive swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt; the land was corrupted because of all the flies.

25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, "You can go and sacrifice to your God in the land."

26 And Moses said, "It is not a good idea; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: if we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, they stone us?

27 We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us."

28 And Pharaoh said, "I will let you go so that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away: entreat for me."

29 And Moses said, "Behold, I go now and I will entreat the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord."

30 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the Lord.

31 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained not one.

32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.

== Notes

== Cross Reference

== Commentary

== Rashi

==== Verse 2
h.ותעל הצפרדע AND THE FROGS (lit. frog) CAME UP — Really there was only one frog, but when they struck at it, it was split into many swarms. This is a Midrashic explanation of the usage of the singular noun here (cf. Sanhedrin 67b; Exodus Rabbah 10:4). But as a literal explanation one must say that the swarm of the frogs is denoted by the singular form. Similar is, (v. 14) “and there was the כנם” — the swarm of insects, in old French pedulier; i. e. a swarm of lice. So, too, here, ותעל הצפרדע means: and there came up a grenouillière (old French) i. e. a swarm of frogs.

==== Verse 5
h.התפאר עלי GLORY OVER ME — Similar is, (Isaiah 10:15) “Should the axe יתפאר against him that heweth therewith” i. e. should it boast, saying “I am greater than thou”; old French vanter. Therefore התפאר means pride yourself on showing your cleverness and on asking of me a difficult matter asserting that I shall be unable to do it.

h.למתי אעתיר FOR WHAT PERIOD SHALL I ENTREAT FOR THEE — With reference to the entreaty which I shall make to-day regarding the destruction of the frogs, by what period do you wish that they should be destroyed, and you will see whether I can carry out my promise by the time which you will set me. If the text said מתי אעתיר (without ל), it would signify “when shall I pray?” but now that it is said למתי, it signifies I will pray to-day for you that the frogs should be destroyed by the time which you will set for me. Tell me, then, by what day you wish that they shall be destroyed. The words here, אעתיר and העתירו (v. 4) and העתרתי (v. 25) are Hiphil forms, and it does not say אֶעְתַּר and עִתְרוּ and וְעָתַרְתִּי (Kal forms) because wherever the root עתר is used it denotes to pray much (more lit. Rashi’s words signify “to multiply praying”, “to make much praying”), and just as one says אַרְבֶּה and הַרְבּוּ and וְהִרְבֵּתִי which all have the meaning of “causing an action to happen” (in this case, causing a thing to be much — our Hiphil conjugation), so one says אַעְתִּיר and הַעְתִּירוּ and וְהֵעְתַּרְתִּי “I increase”, “increase ye” and “I will increase” i. e. I will increase words. The passage which serves as evidence of the meaning of all these words is (Ezekiel 35:13) “וְהֵעְתַּרְתֶּם your words against Me” — which can only mean “Ye have multiplied” (being a transitive verb; cf. Rashi on Genesis 25:21).

==== Verse 6
h.ויאמר למחר AND HE SAID, FOR TO-MORROW — He said: Pray to-day that they may be destroyed by to-morrow.

==== Verse 8
h.ויצא.. ויצעק THEY WENT … AND CRIED [UNTO THE LORD) immediately that they should be destroyed by to-morrow.

==== Verse 10
h.חמרים חמרים means IN HEAPS, just as the Targum renders it, דגורין, which means גלין heaps (דגורא is the Targum of הגל in Genesis 31:46).

==== Verse 11
h.והכבד את לבו HE ALLOWED HIS HEART TO BE HARDENED — The word הַכְבֵּד expresses doing something (the Hebrew infinitive but having a past meaning) just as, (Genesis 12:9) “going (הלוך) and journeying (ונסוע)”. So, too, (2 Kings 3:24) “and smiting (והכת) Moab”; (I Samuel 22:13) “and enquiring (ושאול) of God for him”; (1 Kings 20:37); “smiting (הכה) and wounding (ופצוע)”.

h.כאשר דבר ה׳ AS THE LORD HAD SPOKEN — And where had He said this? When He said, (Exodus 7:4) “Pharaoh will not hearken to you”.

==== Verse 12
h.אמר אל אהרן SAY UNTO AARON — The dust did not deserve to be smitten by Moses because it had protected him when he slew the Egyptian, for “he hid him in the sand”; and it was therefore smitten by Aaron (Tanchuma; Exodus Rabbah 10:7).

==== Verse 13
h.ותהי הכנם means the swarming was. In old French pedulier.

==== Verse 14
h.להוציא את הכנים TO BRING FORTH GNATS — to create them and to bring them forth from some other place (not from dust but to turn some other material into gnats).

h.ולא יכלו BUT THEY COULD NOT — for the demon (through whose agency this was to be done) is powerless in the case of a creature smaller than a barley corn) (Sanhedrin 67b). Therefore they had to admit,

==== Verse 15
h.אצבע אלהים הוא THIS IS THE FINGER OF GOD — This plague is not caused by sorcery: it is of the Omnipresent God!

h.כאשר דבר ה׳ AS THE LORD HAD SPOKEN — when He said, (Exodus 7:4) “Pharaoh will not hearken unto you”.

==== Verse 17
h.משליח בך means I WILL INCITE AGAINST THEE. Another example is. (Deuteronomy 32:24) “I will incite (אשלח) the tooth of beasts against them”, where it signifies letting loose an animal against a person; old French inciter. English to incite.

h.את הערב this means all kinds of wild beasts, serpents, and scorpions (a mixture [ערב] of noxious creatures) in a crowd (Exodus Rabbah 11:3) — these played havoc with them. There is a reason given in the Midrash in the case of each plague why this particular one and why that: God came against them with the tactics of warlike operations as carried out by kings in orderly sequence: a government (monarch) who is besieging a city first destroys its water supply, then they blow the trumpets and sound an alarm in order to terrify and dismay them — thus [their water supply was turned into blood], the frogs croaked and made a noise etc. - just as you will find it stated in the Midrash of Rabbi Tanchuma 2:3:4.

==== Verse 18
h.והפליתי means I WILL SEPARATE. Similar is, (Exodus 9:4) “And the Lord will make a separation (והפלה)”; so, also, (Deuteronomy 30:11) “It is not נפלאת from thee״ — that is, “it is not separated and set at a far distance from thee”.

h.למען תדע כי אני ה׳ בקרב הארץ IN ORDER THAT THOU MAYEST KNOW THAT I AM THE ETERNAL IN THE MIDST OF THE EARTH — although My Shechina is in the heavens My command is fulfilled amongst mankind (as we might say, “My writ runs on earth also”).

==== Verse 19
h.ושמתי פדות AND I WILL MAKE A DELIVERANCE which shall serve as a division BETWEEN MY PEOPLE AND THY PEOPLE.

==== Verse 20
h.תשחת הארץ means the ground was being destroyed (the imperfect tense denotes what was then going on continuously), and so the Targum has אתחבלת ארעא (the participle) the ground was being ruined.

==== Verse 21
h.זבחו לאלהיכם בארץ SACRIFICE TO YOUR GOD IN THE LAND, in the place where you are, and do not go into the wilderness.

==== Verse 22
h.תועבת מצרים THE ABOMINATION OF THE EGYPTIANS — This means: that which the Egyptians reverence (their idol), just as, (2 Kings 23:13) “and for Milcom the abomination (תועבת) of the children of Ammon”, but in relation to the Israelites it (Scripture) calls it תועבה. We may explain these words in another sense also: תועבת מצרים — The act of sacrifice which we practise is a hateful thing to the Egyptians seing that we sacrifice their god (sheep which were reverenced as gods in Egypt).

h.ולא יסקלנו — This must be read in the intonation of a question (although there is no interrogative prefix הֲ) AND WILL THEY NOT STONE US?

==== Verse 25
h.התל is the same as להתל (i. e. the infinitive may be used with or without ל prefixed).

==== Verse 26
h.ויעתר אל ה׳ AND ENTREATED THE LORD (the verb is the Kal) — he concentrated his energies on prayer. So, too, if it had wished to use the term וַיַעְתִּיר (the Hiphil) it could have used it, and that would have signified, “and he increased words in prayer”. But when it uses an expression denoting “and he did something” (the Kal) it signifies “he prayed much (devoutly)”.

==== Verse 27
h.ויסר הערב AND HE REMOVED THE SWARM OF ANIMALS — He merely removed them and they did not die as the frogs had died; for had they died, they (the Egyptians) could have made some use of their skins (Exodus Rabbah 11:3).

==== Verse 28
h.Again this time. [Once more,] though he said, “I will send you out,” he did not keep his promise.