Exodus 8:2

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
If you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your borders with frogs:

King James Version
And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:

Lexham English Bible
And if you are refusing to release, look, I am going to plague all of your territory with frogs.

New Century Version
If you refuse, I will punish Egypt with frogs.

New English Translation
But if you refuse to release them, then I am going to plague all your territory with frogs.

Amplified Bible
"However, if you refuse to let them go, hear this: I am going to strike your entire land with frogs.

New American Standard Bible
"But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I am going to strike your entire territory with frogs.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And if thou wilt not let them goe, beholde, I will smite all thy countrey with frogges:

Legacy Standard Bible
But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite your whole territory with frogs.

Contemporary English Version
If he refuses, I will cover his entire country with frogs.

Complete Jewish Bible
Aharon put out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

Darby Translation
And if thou refuse to let [them] go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs.

Easy-to-Read Version
If you refuse to let my people go, then I will fill Egypt with frogs.

English Standard Version
But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with frogs.

George Lamsa Translation
And if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all your borders with frogs;

Good News Translation
If you refuse, I will punish your country by covering it with frogs.

Christian Standard Bible®
But if you refuse to let them go, then I will plague all your territory with frogs.

Literal Translation
And if you refuse to send them away, behold, I am about to smite all your territory with frogs.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf thou wilt not let the go, beholde, I wil smyte all ye borders of yi lode wt frogges,

American Standard Version
And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:

Bible in Basic English
And if you will not let them go, see, I will send frogs into every part of your land:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And if thou refuse to let them go, beholde, I wyll smyte all thy borders with frogges:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.

King James Version (1611)
And if thou refuse to let them goe, beholde, I will smite all thy borders with frogges.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And if thou wilt not send them forth, behold, I afflict all thy borders with frogs:

English Revised Version
And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:

Berean Standard Bible
But if you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y schal smyte alle thi termys with paddoks;

Young's Literal Translation
and if thou art refusing to send away, lo, I am smiting all thy border with frogs;

Update Bible Version
And if you refuse to let them go, look, I will smite all your borders with frogs:

Webster's Bible Translation
And if thou shalt refuse to let [them] go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:

World English Bible
If you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your borders with frogs:

New King James Version
But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all your territory with frogs.

New Living Translation
If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs across your entire land.

New Life Bible
But if you will not let them go, I will bring trouble to your whole country with frogs.

New Revised Standard
If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But if thou art, refusing, to let them go, lo! I, am plaguing all thy boundaries with frogs;

Douay-Rheims Bible
But if thou wilt not let them go, behold I will strike all thy coasts with frogs.

Revised Standard Version
But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all your country with frogs;

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite your whole territory with frogs.

Contextual Overview

¹ God said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘ God 's Message: Release my people so they can worship me. If you refuse to release them, I'm warning you, I'll hit the whole country with frogs. The Nile will swarm with frogs—they'll come up into your houses, into your bedrooms and into your beds, into your servants' quarters, among the people, into your ovens and pots and pans. They'll be all over you, all over everyone—frogs everywhere, on and in everything!'" ⁵ God said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, ‘Wave your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds. Bring up frogs on the land of Egypt.'" ⁶ Aaron stretched his staff over the waters of Egypt and a mob of frogs came up and covered the country. ⁷ But again the magicians did the same thing using their incantations—they also produced frogs in Egypt. ⁸ Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to God to rid us of these frogs. I'll release the people so that they can make their sacrifices and worship God ." ⁹ Moses said to Pharaoh, "Certainly. Set the time. When do you want the frogs out of here, away from your servants and people and out of your houses? You'll be rid of frogs except for those in the Nile." ¹⁰"Make it tomorrow." Moses said, "Tomorrow it is—so you'll realize that there is no God like our God . The frogs will be gone. You and your houses and your servants and your people, free of frogs. The only frogs left will be the ones in the Nile." ¹²Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, and Moses prayed to God about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. God responded to Moses' prayer: The frogs died off—houses, courtyards, fields, all free of frogs. They piled the frogs in heaps. The country reeked of dead frogs. ¹⁵ But when Pharaoh saw that he had some breathing room, he got stubborn again and wouldn't listen to Moses and Aaron. Just as God had said.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

refuse: Exodus 7:14, Exodus 9:2

frogs: The Hebrew tzephardêim is evidently the same with the Arabic zafda, Chaldaic oordeânaya, and Syriac oordeai, all of which denote frogs, as almost all interpreters, both ancient and modern, agree to render it; Bochart conceives, from tzifa, a bank, and rada, mud, because of delighting in muddy and marshy places. Psalms 78:45, Psalms 105:30, Revelation 16:13, Revelation 16:14

Reciprocal: Job 12:21 - poureth Jeremiah 50:33 - they refused Ezekiel 17:16 - whose oath

Cross-References

Genesis 7:11
It was the six-hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month that it happened: all the underground springs erupted and all the windows of Heaven were thrown open. Rain poured for forty days and forty nights.

Genesis 8:13
In the six-hundred-first year of Noah's life, on the first day of the first month, the flood had dried up. Noah opened the hatch of the ship and saw dry ground. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the Earth was completely dry.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And if thou refuse to let them go,.... Will not obey the orders:

I will smite all thy borders with frogs; he gives him warning of the blow before he strikes, which shows his clemency and goodness, his patience and longsuffering; and this he did, not only that he might have time and space for repentance, and thereby avoid the blow; but that when it came, he might be sensible it was not by chance, or owing to second causes, but was from the Lord himself.

I will smite all thy borders with frogs: fill the whole land of Egypt with them, to the utmost borders thereof on every side. Some q say the word signifies a large Egyptian fish, which in the Arabic tongue is called Altamsach, that is, a crocodile, with which the Nile abounded; but such a creature could not invade and attack them in the manner as is after related.

q R. Chananeel apud Abendana, and some in Aben Ezra in Ioc.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

With frogs - Some months appear to have elapsed between this and the former plague, if the frogs made their appearance at the usual time, that is in September. The special species mentioned here is of Egyptian origin. This plague was, like the preceding, in general accordance with natural phenomena, but marvelous both for its extent and intensity, and for its direct connection with the words and acts of God’s messengers. It had also apparently, like the other plagues, a direct bearing upon Egyptian superstitions. There was a female deity with a frog’s head, and the frog was connected with the most ancient forms of nature-worship in Egypt.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 8:2. If thou refuse — Nothing can be plainer than that Pharaoh had it still in his power to have dismissed the people, and that his refusal was the mere effect of his own wilful obstinacy.

With frogs — צפרדעים tsepardeim. This word is of doubtful etymology: almost all interpreters, both ancient and modern, agree to render it as we do, though some mentioned by Aben Ezra think the crocodile is meant; but these can never weigh against the conjoint testimony of the ancient versions. Parkhurst derives the word from צפר tsaphar, denoting the brisk action, or motion of the light, and ידע yada, to feel, as they seem to feel or rejoice in the light, croaking all the summer months, yet hiding themselves in the winter. The Arabic name for this animal is very nearly the same with the Hebrew [Arabic] zafda, where the letters are the same, the ר resch being omitted. It is used as a quadriliteral root in the Arabic language, to signify froggy, or containing frogs: see Golius. But the true etymology seems to be given by Bochart, who says the word is compounded of [Arabic] zifa, a bank, and [Arabic] rada, mud, because the frog delights in muddy or marshy places; and that from these two words the noun [Arabic] zafda is formed, the [Arabic] re being dropped. In the Batrocho myomachia of Homer, the frog has many of its epithets from this very circumstance. Hence Λιμνοχαρις, delighting in the lake; Βορβοροκοιτης, lying or engendering in the mud; Πηλευς, and Πηλβατης, belonging to the mud, walking in the mud, c., c.

A frog is in itself a very harmless animal but to most people who use it not as an article of food, exceedingly loathsome. God, with equal ease, could have brought crocodiles, bears, lions, or tigers to have punished these people and their impious king, instead of frogs, lice, flies, c. But had he used any of those formidable animals, the effect would have appeared so commensurate to the cause, that the hand of God might have been forgotten in the punishment and the people would have been exasperated without being humbled. In the present instance he shows the greatness of his power by making an animal, devoid of every evil quality, the means of a terrible affliction to his enemies. How easy is it, both to the justice and mercy of God, to destroy or save by means of the most despicable and insignificant of instruments! Though he is the Lord of hosts he has no need of powerful armies, the ministry of angels, or the thunderbolts of justice, to punish a sinner or a sinful nation the frog or the fly in his hands is a sufficient instrument of vengeance.