Exodus 8

Exodus 8

Exodus 8:1 Then Yahveh said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what Yahveh says, “Send away my people, so that they may serve me.

Exodus 8:2 But if you are refusing to send them away, notice, I will plague all your territory with frogs.

Exodus 8:3 The Nile will swarm with frogs that will come up into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed and into the houses of your slaves and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls.

Exodus 8:4 The frogs will come up on you and on your people and on all your slaves.”‘

Exodus 8:5 And Yahveh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Extend your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt!'”

Exodus 8:6 So Aaron extended his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

Exodus 8:7 But the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

Exodus 8:8 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Plead with Yahveh to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to Yahveh.”

Exodus 8:9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “Honor yourself by commanding me when I am to plead for you and for your slaves and for your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.”

Exodus 8:10 And he said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “It will be as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like Yahveh our God.

Exodus 8:11 The frogs will go away from you and your houses and your slaves and your people. They will be left only in the Nile.”

Exodus 8:12 So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to Yahveh about the frogs, as he had agreed with Pharaoh.

Exodus 8:13 And Yahveh acted consistent with the word of Moses. The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields.

Exodus 8:14 And they gathered them together in piles, and the land stank.

Exodus 8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was a break, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as Yahveh had predicted.

Exodus 8:16 Then Yahveh told Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Extend your staff and strike the dust of the land, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.'”

Exodus 8:17 And they did so. Aaron extended his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the land, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the land became gnats in all the land of Egypt.

Exodus 8:18 The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So, there were gnats on man and beast.

Exodus 8:19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of a god.” But Pharaoh’s heart was made strong, and he would not listen to them, as Yahveh had predicted.

Exodus 8:20 Then Yahveh said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says Yahveh, “Send my people away, that they may serve me.

Exodus 8:21 Because, if you will not send my people away, notice, I will send swarms of flies on you and your slaves and your people, and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians will be filled with swarms of flies, and the ground on which they stand also.

Exodus 8:22 But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies will be there, so that you may know that I am Yahveh in the midst of the land.

Exodus 8:23 This is how I will distinguish between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign will happen.”‘”

Exodus 8:24 And Yahveh did so. Large swarms of flies came into the house of Pharaoh and into his slaves’ houses. Throughout all the land of Egypt the land was devastated by the swarms of flies.

Exodus 8:25 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.”

Exodus 8:26 But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for the offerings we would sacrifice to Yahveh our God are a repugnance to the Egyptians. If they notice us sacrificing offerings repulsive to the Egyptians before their eyes, would they not stone us?

Exodus 8:27 We must go three days’ journey into the open country and sacrifice to Yahveh our God as he tells us.”

Exodus 8:28 So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to Yahveh your God in the open country; only you must not go very far away. Plead for me.”

Exodus 8:29 Then Moses said, “Notice, I am going out from you and I will plead with Yahveh that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his slaves, and from his people, tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh be mocking again by not sending the people away to sacrifice to Yahveh.”

Exodus 8:30 So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to Yahveh.

Exodus 8:31 And Yahveh did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his slaves, and from his people; not one remained.

Exodus 8:32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also and did not send the people away.

Exodus 8 quotes:

“The constant demand during the plagues was basically the same: “Let my people go, so that they may worship [serve] me.””

White, John H. Slavery to Servanthood. Great Commission Publications, 1987. p. 108.

““Let my people go, that they may worship me,” God demanded through His mouthpiece (Exodus 8:1). As Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). We have been told that we should serve God only (see Matthew 4:10). The problem with many people today is that they think they can serve God in Egypt. They think going to church or saying prayers, reading the Bible, or just believing in God is serving Him and is quite enough religion. But the service God required was in Canaan, in a different dimension altogether. He is not interested in us practicing religion, but rather in us finding reality.”

Briscoe, Jill. Here Am I, Lord– Send Somebody Else : How God Uses Ordinary People to Do Extraordinary Things. W Pub. Group, 2004. p. 61.

“The second loathsome disaster came out of the sacred river, compounding the insult to the Egyptian frog goddess, Heqt, the wife of Khnum, the guardian of the sources of the Nile. The indignity proved that neither of them had control over their supposed domains. Frogs filled the land, the beds, the cooking pots. No square inch of ground was spared. And again the foolish magicians only increased the plague by duplicating it.”

Bubeck, Craig, and James Dyet. Studies in Exodus : Farewell to Bondage. Scripture Press Publications, 1999. p. 26.