Exodus 7:21

The NET Bible®

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!

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
The fish that were in the river died; and the river became foul, and the Mitzrim couldn't drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Mitzrayim.

King James Version
And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

Lexham English Bible
And the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, and the Egyptians were not able to drink water from the Nile, and the blood was in all the land of Egypt.

New Century Version
The fish in the Nile died, and the river began to stink, so the Egyptians could not drink water from it. Blood was everywhere in the land of Egypt.

Amplified Bible
The fish in the Nile died, and the river became foul smelling, and the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

New American Standard Bible
Then the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the fish that was in the ryuer dyed, & the riuer stanke: so that the Egyptians could not drinke of the water of the riuer: and there was blood throughout all the lande of Egypt.

Legacy Standard Bible
And the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt.

Contemporary English Version
the fish died, and the water smelled so bad that none of the Egyptians could drink it. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

Complete Jewish Bible
The fish in the river died, and the river stank so badly that the Egyptians couldn't drink its water. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

Darby Translation
And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river; and the blood was throughout the land of Egypt.

Easy-to-Read Version
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.

English Standard Version
And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

George Lamsa Translation
And the fish that were in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

Good News Translation
The fish in the river died, and it smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink from it. There was blood everywhere in Egypt.

Christian Standard Bible®
The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad the Egyptians could not drink water from it. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt.

Literal Translation
And the fish in the river died, and the river stunk. And the Egyptians were not able to drink water from the Nile. And the blood was in all the land of Egypt.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
& the fysh in the ryuer dyed, & the ryuer stanke, so yt the Egipcians coulde not drynke of the water of ye ryuer, & there was bloude in all the lande of Egipte.

American Standard Version
And the fish that were in the river died; and the river became foul, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.

Bible in Basic English
And the fish in the Nile came to destruction, and a bad smell went up from the river, and the Egyptians were not able to make use of the water of the Nile for drinking; and there was blood through all the land of Egypt.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the fishe that was in the ryuer dyed: and the ryuer corrupted, and the Egyptians coulde not drinke of the waters of the ryuer, and there was blood throughout all the lande of Egypt.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the fish that were in the river died; and the river became foul, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.

King James Version (1611)
And the fish that was in the riuer died: and the riuer stunke, and the Egyptians could not drinke of the water of the riuer: and there was blood throughout all the land Egypt.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the fish in the river died, and the river stank thereupon; and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river, and the blood was in all the land of Egypt.

English Revised Version
And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.

Berean Standard Bible
The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and fischis, that weren in the flood, dieden; and the flood was rotun, and Egipcians myyten not drynke the water of the flood; and blood was in al the lond of Egipt.

Young's Literal Translation
and the fish which [is] in the River hath died, and the River stinketh, and the Egyptians have not been able to drink water from the River; and the blood is in all the land of Egypt.

Update Bible Version
And the fish that were in the river died; and the river became foul, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the fish that [was] in the river died; and the river was offensive in smell, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

World English Bible
The fish that were in the river died; and the river became foul, and the Egyptians couldn't drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.

New King James Version
The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

New Living Translation
The fish in the river died, and the water became so foul that the Egyptians couldn't drink it. There was blood everywhere throughout the land of Egypt.

New Life Bible
The fish that were in the Nile died. And the Nile had a bad smell. So the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. The blood was through all the land of Egypt.

New Revised Standard
and the fish in the river died. The river stank so that the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout the whole land of Egypt.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and the fish that was in the river, died and the river became loathsome, so that the Egyptians could not drink water out of the river, - thus came it to pass that blood was in all the land of Egypt.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the fishes that were in the river died; and the river corrupted, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river, and there was blood in all the land of Egypt.

Revised Standard Version
And the fish in the Nile died; and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt.

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

Exodus 7:18, Revelation 8:9, The first miracle of Christ turned water into wine, the first plague upon Egypt turned all their water into blood.

Reciprocal: Exodus 8:14 - and the Psalms 105:29 - General Isaiah 19:8 - General Isaiah 50:2 - their fish Revelation 8:10 - the fountains

Cross-References

Genesis 6:13
So God said to Noah, "I have decided that all living creatures must die, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Now I am about to destroy them and the earth.

Genesis 6:17
I am about to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them. Everything that is on the earth will die,

Genesis 7:3
and also seven of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, to preserve their offspring on the face of the earth.

Genesis 7:4
For in seven days I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made."

Genesis 7:6
Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters engulfed the earth.

Genesis 7:7
Noah entered the ark along with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives because of the floodwaters.

Genesis 7:15
Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life came into the ark to Noah.

Genesis 7:17
The flood engulfed the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark and raised it above the earth.

Genesis 7:20
The waters rose more than twenty feet above the mountains.

Genesis 7:22
Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the fish that was in the river died,.... Which was a full proof that the conversion of it into blood was real; for had it been only in appearance, or the water of the river had only the colour of blood, and looked like it, but was not really so, it would not have affected the fishes, they would have lived as well as before; and this plague was the greater affliction to the Egyptians, not as it affected their drink but their food, fish Numbers 11:5 being what the common people chiefly lived upon, Numbers 11:5- : and the river stunk; the blood into which it was turned being corrupted through the heat of the sun, and the dead fishes swimming upon it being putrefied;

and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and they had no other water to drink of k; for rain seldom fell in Egypt, though sometimes it did in some places, Numbers 11:5- :. The water of the river Nile was not only their common drink, but it was exceeding pleasant, and therefore the loss of it was the greater; it was so remarkable for the sweetness and delicacy of its taste, that in the time of Pescennius Niger, when his soldiers murmured for want of wine, he is reported to have answered them,

"what! crave you wine, and have the water of the Nile to drink?''

which Mr. Maillett, who lived sixteen years consul for the French nation at Grand Cairo, confirms, and says, that it is grown to be a common proverb, that whoever has once tasted it will ever after pine for it l; with this compare Jeremiah 2:18:

and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt; in the river, wherever it flowed, in all its streams and channels, and wherever any water was collected out of it, or fetched from it, let it be in what reservoir it would. This is the first plague executed on the Egyptians, and a very righteous one by the law of retaliation for shedding the blood of innocent babes, through casting them into this river; and this will be the second and third vials of God's wrath, which will be poured on antichrist, or mystical Egypt, who will have blood given to drink because worthy, see Revelation 16:3. Artapanus m, an Heathen writer, bears testimony to this miracle, though he does not so fully and clearly express it as it was; he says,

"a little after, that is, after the former miracle of the rod turned into a serpent, the Nile, that river whose swelling waves overflow all Egypt, was smitten with the rod; and the water being gathered and stagnated, boiled up, and not only the fishes were destroyed, but the people perished through thirst.''

k Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 29. l See the Bishop of Clogher's Chronology of the Hebrew Bible, p. 287. m Apud Euseb Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 435.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The fish ... - The Egyptians subsisted to a great extent on the fish of the Nile, though salt-water fish were regarded as impure. A mortality among the fish was a plague that was much dreaded.