Exodus 8:24 New English Translation
24 The Lord did so; a[a] thick[b] swarm of flies came into[c] Pharaoh’s house and into the houses[d] of his servants, and throughout the whole land of Egypt the land was ruined[e] because of the swarms of flies.
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- Exodus 8:24 tn Heb “and there came a….”
- Exodus 8:24 tn Heb “heavy,” or “severe.”
- Exodus 8:24 tn Here, and in the next phrase, the word “house” has to be taken as an adverbial accusative of termination.
- Exodus 8:24 tn The Hebrew text has the singular here.
- Exodus 8:24 tc Concerning the connection of “the land was ruined” with the preceding, S. R. Driver (Exodus, 68) suggests reading with the LXX, Smr, and Peshitta; this would call for adding a conjunction before the last clause to make it read, “into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt; and the land was….”tn The Hebrew word תִּשָּׁחֵת (tishakhet) is a strong word; it is the Niphal imperfect of שָׁחַת (shakhat) and is translated “ruined.” If the classification as imperfect stands, then it would have to be something like a progressive imperfect (the land was being ruined); otherwise, it may simply be a preterite without the vav (ו) consecutive. The verb describes utter devastation. This is the verb that is used in Gen 13:10 to describe how Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Swarms of flies would disrupt life, contaminate everything, and bring disease.
New English Translation (NET)
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