Exodus 7:18

Easy-to-Read Version

The fish in the river will die, and the river will begin to stink. Then the Egyptians will not be able to drink the water from the river.'"

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
The fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul; and the Mitzrim shall loathe to drink water from the river."'"

King James Version
And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river.

Lexham English Bible
And the fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile."'"

New Century Version
Then the fish in the Nile will die, and the river will begin to stink. The Egyptians will not be able to drink the water from the Nile.'"

New English Translation
Fish in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile."'"

Amplified Bible
"The fish in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul, and the Egyptians will not be able to drink water from the Nile."'"

New American Standard Bible
"Then the fish that are in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will no longer be able to drink water from the Nile."'"

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the fish that is in the riuer shall dye, and the riuer shall stinke, and it shall grieue the Egyptians to drinke of the water of the riuer.

Legacy Standard Bible
And the fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul, and the Egyptians will be weary of drinking water from the Nile."'"

Contemporary English Version
The fish will die, the river will stink, and none of you Egyptians will be able to drink the water."

Complete Jewish Bible
The fish in the river will die, the river will stink and the Egyptians won't want to drink water from the river.'"

Darby Translation
And the fish that is in the river shall die; and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink the water out of the river.

English Standard Version
The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile."'"

George Lamsa Translation
And the fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river.

Good News Translation
The fish will die, and the river will stink so much that the Egyptians will not be able to drink from it.'"

Christian Standard Bible®
The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from it.”

Literal Translation
And the fish in the river will die, and the river will stink, and the Egyptians will become weary of drinking water from the river.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
so that the fishes in the ryuer shall dye, & the ryuer shall stynke: & it shall greue the Egipcians to drynke of ye water of the ryuer.

American Standard Version
And the fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river.

Bible in Basic English
And the fish in the Nile will come to destruction, and the river will send up a bad smell, and the Egyptians will not be able, for disgust, to make use of the water of the Nile for drinking.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the fishe that is in the riuer, shall dye: and the ryuer shall corrupt, and it shall greeue the Egyptians to drinke of the water of the ryuer.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river.'

King James Version (1611)
And the fish that is in the riuer shall die, and the riuer shall stincke, and the Egyptians shall loathe to drinke of the water of the riuer.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall stink thereupon, and the Egyptians shall not be able to drink water from the river.

English Revised Version
And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river.

Berean Standard Bible
The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water.'"

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and the fischis that ben in the flood schulen die; and the watris schulen wexe rotun, and Egipcians drynkynge the watir of the flood schulen be turmentid.

Young's Literal Translation
and the fish that [are] in the River die, and the River hath stank, and the Egyptians have been wearied of drinking waters from the River.'

Update Bible Version
And the fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the fish that [is] in the river shall die, and the river shall be offensive in smell; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river.

World English Bible
The fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river."'"

New King James Version
And the fish that are in the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians will loathe to drink the water of the river.""'

New Living Translation
The fish in it will die, and the river will stink. The Egyptians will not be able to drink any water from the Nile.'"

New Life Bible
The fish that are in the Nile will die. And the Nile will have a bad smell. The Egyptians will not be able to drink water from the Nile."'"

New Revised Standard
The fish in the river shall die, the river itself shall stink, and the Egyptians shall be unable to drink water from the Nile.'"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and, the fish that is in the river shall die and the river shall be loathsome, - and the Egyptians, shall disdain, to drink water out of the river.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the fishes that are in the river, shall die, and the waters shall be corrupted, and the Egyptians shall be afflicted when they drink the water of the river.

Revised Standard Version
and the fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile shall become foul, and the Egyptians will loathe to drink water from the Nile."'"

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"The fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul, and the Egyptians will find difficulty in drinking water from the Nile."'"

Contextual Overview

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh is being stubborn. He refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ In the morning Pharaoh will go out to the river. Go to him by the edge of the Nile River. Take the walking stick that became a snake. ¹⁶ Tell him this: ‘The Lord , the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you. He told me to tell you to let his people go worship him in the desert. Until now you have not listened to the Lord. ¹⁷ So the Lord says that he will do something to show you that he is the Lord . I will hit the water of the Nile River with this walking stick in my hand, and the river will turn into blood. ¹⁸ The fish in the river will die, and the river will begin to stink. Then the Egyptians will not be able to drink the water from the river.'" ¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses: "Tell Aaron to hold the walking stick in his hand over the rivers, canals, lakes, and every place where they store water. When he does this, all the water will turn into blood. All the water, even the water stored in wood and stone jars, will turn into blood." ²⁰ So Moses and Aaron did what the Lord commanded. Aaron raised the walking stick and hit the water in the Nile River. He did this in front of Pharaoh and his officials. So all the water in the river changed into blood. ²¹ The fish in the river died, and the river began to stink. So the Egyptians could not drink water from the river. The blood was everywhere in Egypt. ²² The magicians used their magic to do the same thing. So Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. This happened just as the Lord said. ²³ Pharaoh ignored what Moses and Aaron had done. He turned and went into his house.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the fish: Exodus 7:21

Egyptians: "The water of Egypt," says Abbe Mascrier, "is so delicious, that one would not wish the heat to be less, or to be delivered from the sensation of thirst. The Turks find it so exquisite, that they excite themselves to drink of it by eating salt." "A person," adds Mr. Harmer, "who never before heard of the deliciousness of the Nile water, 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, the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river, which he never did before."

shall loathe: Exodus 7:24, Numbers 11:20, Numbers 21:5

Reciprocal: Exodus 7:20 - all the waters Isaiah 50:2 - their fish

Cross-References

Exodus 14:28
The water returned to its normal level and covered the chariots and horse soldiers. Pharaoh's army had been chasing the Israelites, but that army was destroyed. None of them survived!

Job 22:16
They were destroyed before it was their time to die. They were washed away by the flood.

Psalms 69:15
Don't let the waves drown me. Don't let the deep sea swallow me or the grave close its mouth on me.

Psalms 104:26
Ships sail over the ocean, and playing there is Leviathan, the great sea creature you made.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the fish that is in the river shall die,.... Their element being changed, and they not able to live in any other but water:

and the river shall stink; with the blood, into which it should be congealed, and with the putrefied bodies of fishes floating in it:

and the Egyptians shall loath to drink of the water of the river; the very colour of it, looking like blood, would set them against it, and create a nausea in them; or "shall be weary" h, tired of drinking it in a little time, through the loathsomeness of it; or be weary in digging about it, Exodus 7:24 to get some clear water to drink of; or in seeking to find out ways and methods to cure the waters, that so they might be fit to drink of, as Jarchi interprets it.

h נלאו "delassabuntur", Tigurine version, Vatablus. "Defatigabuntur", Cartwright.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Shall lothe - The water of the Nile has always been regarded by the Egyptians as a blessing unique to their land. It is the only pure and wholesome water in their country, since the water in wells and cisterns is unwholesome, while rain water seldom falls, and fountains are extremely rare.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 7:18. The Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water — The force of this expression cannot be well felt without taking into consideration the peculiar pleasantness and great salubrity of the waters of the Nile. "The water of Egypt," says the Abbe Mascrier, "is so delicious, that one would not wish the heat to be less, or to be delivered from the sensation of thirst. The Turks find it so exquisite that they excite themselves to drink of it by eating salt. It is a common saying among them, that if Mohammed had drank of it he would have besought God that he might never die, in order to have had this continual gratification. When the Egyptians undertake the pilgrimage of Mecca, or go out of their country on any other account, they speak of nothing but the pleasure they shall have at their return in drinking of the waters of the Nile. There is no gratification to be compared to this; it surpasses, in their esteem, that of seeing their relations and families. All those who have tasted of this water allow that they never met with the like in any other place. When a person drinks of it for the first time he can scarcely be persuaded that it is not a water prepared by art; for it has something in it inexpressibly agreeable and pleasing to the taste; and it should have the same rank among waters that champaign has among wines. But its most valuable quality is, that it is exceedingly salutary. It never incommodes, let it be drank in what quantity it may: this is so true that it is no uncommon thing to see some persons drink three buckets of it in a day without the least inconvenience! When I pass such encomiums on the water of Egypt it is right to observe that I speak only of that of the Nile, which indeed is the only water drinkable, for their well water is detestable and unwholesome. Fountains are so rare that they are a kind of prodigy in that country; and as to rain water, that is out of the question, as scarcely any falls in Egypt."

"A person," says Mr. Harmer, "who never before heard of the deliciousness of the Nile water, and of the large quantities which on that account are drank of it, will, I am sure, find an energy in those words of Moses to Pharaoh, The Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river, which he never observed before. They will loathe to drink of that water which they used to prefer to all the waters of the universe; loathe to drink of that for which they had been accustomed to long, and will rather choose to drink of well water, which in their country is detestable!" - Observations, vol. iii., p. 564.