Part 71

8:11. And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people; and shall remain only in the river.

8:12. And Moses and Aaron went forth from Pharao: and Moses cried to the Lord for the promise, which he had made to Pharao concerning the frogs.

8:13. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses: and the frogs died out of the houses, and out of the villages, and out of the fields:

8:14. And they gathered them together into immense heaps, and the land was corrupted.

8:15. And Pharao seeing that rest was given, hardened his own heart, and did not hear them, as the Lord had commanded.

Pharao hardened his own heart. . .By this we see that Pharao was himself the efficient cause of his heart being hardened, and not God.--See the same repeated in ver. 32. Pharao hardened his heart at this time also: likewise chap. 9.7, 35, and chap. 13.15.

8:16. And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron: Stretch forth thy rod, and strike the dust of the earth; and may there be sciniphs in all the land of Egypt.

Sciniphs. . .Or Cinifs, Hebrew Chinnim, small flying insects, very troublesome both to men and beast.

8:17. And they did so. And Aaron stretched forth his hand, holding the rod; and he struck the dust of the earth, and there came sciniphs on men and on beasts: all the dust of the earth was turned into sciniphs through all the land of Egypt.

8:18: And the magicians with their enchantments practised in like manner, to bring forth sciniphs, and they could not: and there were sciniphs as well on men as on beasts.

8:19. And the magicians said to Pharao: This is the finger of God. And Pharao's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had commanded.

8:20. The Lord also said to Moses: Arise early, and stand before Pharao; for he will go forth to the waters: and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Let my people go to sacrifice to me.

8:21. But if thou wilt not let them go, behold I will send in upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy houses, all kind of flies: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with flies of divers kinds, and the whole land wherein they shall be.

8:22. And I will make the land of Gessen wonderful in that day, so that flies shall not be there: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.

8:23. And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be.

8:24. And the Lord did so. And there came a very grievous swarm of flies into the houses of Pharao and of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt: and the land was corrupted by this kind of flies.

8:25. And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Go and sacrifice to your God in this land.

8:26. And Moses said: It cannot be so: for we shall sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: now if we kill those things which the Egyptians worship, in their presence, they will stone us.

The abominations, etc. . .That is, the things they worship for Gods: oxen, rams, etc. It is the usual style of the scriptures to call all idols and false gods, abominations, to signify how much the people of God ought to detest and abhor them.

8:27. We will go three days' journey into the wilderness; and we will sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.

8:28. And Pharao said: I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but go no farther: pray for me.

8:29. And Moses said: I will go out from thee, and will pray to the Lord: and the flies shall depart from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people to morrow: but do not deceive any more, in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.

8:30. So Moses went out from Pharao, and prayed to the Lord.

8:31. And he did according to his word: and he took away the flies from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people: there was not left so much as one.

8:32. And Pharao's heart was hardened, so that neither this time would he let the people go.

Exodus Chapter 9

The fifth plague is a murrain among the cattle. The sixth, of boils in men and beasts. The seventh, of hail. Pharao promiseth again to let the people go, and breaketh his word.

9:1. And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao, and speak to him: Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to sacrifice to me.