Exodus 8:2

New Living Translation

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

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 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 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go back to Pharaoh and announce to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so they can worship me. ² If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs across your entire land. ³ The Nile River will swarm with frogs. They will come up out of the river and into your palace, even into your bedroom and onto your bed! They will enter the houses of your officials and your people. They will even jump into your ovens and your kneading bowls. ⁴ Frogs will jump on you, your people, and all your officials.'" ⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, ‘Raise the staff in your hand over all the rivers, canals, and ponds of Egypt, and bring up frogs over all the land.'" ⁶ So Aaron raised his hand over the waters of Egypt, and frogs came up and covered the whole land! ⁷ But the magicians were able to do the same thing with their magic. They, too, caused frogs to come up on the land of Egypt. ⁸ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and begged, "Plead with the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people. I will let your people go, so they can offer sacrifices to the Lord ." ⁹ "You set the time!" Moses replied. "Tell me when you want me to pray for you, your officials, and your people. Then you and your houses will be rid of the frogs. They will remain only in the Nile River." ¹⁰ "Do it tomorrow," Pharaoh said. "All right," Moses replied, "it will be as you have said. Then you will know that there is no one like the Lord our God.

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
When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky.

Genesis 8:11
This time the dove returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew that the floodwaters were almost gone.

Genesis 8:13
Noah was now 601 years old. On the first day of the new year, ten and a half months after the flood began, the floodwaters had almost dried up from the earth. Noah lifted back the covering of the boat and saw that the surface of the ground was drying.

Job 38:37
Who is wise enough to count all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven

Proverbs 8:28
I was there when he set the clouds above, when he established springs deep in the earth.

Jonah 2:3
You threw me into the ocean depths, and I sank down to the heart of the sea. The mighty waters engulfed me; I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.

Matthew 8:9
I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,' and they go, or ‘Come,' and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,' they do it."

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.