Exodus 7:18

The NET Bible®

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

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.'"

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.

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.'"

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 The Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is hard; he refuses to release the people. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning when he goes out to the water. Position yourself to meet him by the edge of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake. ¹⁶ Tell him, ‘The Lord , the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you to say, "Release my people, that they may serve me in the desert!" But until now you have not listened. ¹⁷ Thus says the Lord : "By this you will know that I am the Lord : I am going to strike the water of the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood. ¹⁸ Fish in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile."'" ¹⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over Egypt's waters—over their rivers, over their canals, over their ponds, and over all their reservoirs—so that it becomes blood.' There will be blood everywhere in the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers." ²⁰ Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord had commanded. Moses raised the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile right before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood. ²¹ When the fish that were in the Nile died, the Nile began to stink, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood everywhere in the land of Egypt! ²² But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts, and so Pharaoh's heart remained hard, and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron—just as the Lord had predicted. ²³ And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. He did not pay any attention to this.

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 and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that was coming after the Israelites into the sea—not so much as one of them survived!

Job 22:16
men who were carried off before their time, when the flood was poured out on their foundations?

Psalms 69:15
Don't let the current overpower me! Don't let the deep swallow me up! Don't let the Pit devour me!

Psalms 104:26
The ships travel there, and over here swims the whale you made to play in it.

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.