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Exodus 10:12

in Exodus 10

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may swarm over it and devour every plant in the land—everything that the hail has left behind.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left.

KJV

And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left.

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This verse in Exodus 10

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

The Six Days of Creation 5.23.82 · Written before 397.

Even the locust, by divine grace, penetrates everywhere, and when it has filled the width of each region with its dense swarm, it first strikes without harm, and feeds on the barren land only after receiving the divine signal of permission. Indeed, just as we read in Exodus, it also acts as the celestial executor of righteous vengeance.

This site's exposition

Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt

on Exodus 10:12-13

The hand is commanded and the rod does the work, the same shepherd's stick handed to Moses at the bush in 4:2, which swallowed the magicians' rods at 7:12 and turned the river at 7:20. The agent is an east wind that blows a full day and a full night, and the same wind blows all night at 14:21 to open the sea. An east wind had blasted the ears of corn in the dream of Genesis 41:6, the dream that brought Israel down into Egypt in the first place.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

The Six Days of Creation 5.23.82 · Written before 397.

proposed

Even the locust, by divine grace, penetrates everywhere, and when it has filled the width of each region with its dense swarm, it first strikes without harm, and feeds on the barren land only after receiving the divine signal of permission. Indeed, just as we read in Exodus, it also acts as the celestial executor of righteous vengeance.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And the Lord said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Rabbi Moses Ha-Kohen says that ba-arbeh (for the locusts) indicates that Moses placed a locust on the rod.
Ibn Ezra: Spain, 1089–1167 · Ibn Ezra on Exodus 10:12:1, via Sefaria, Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch, tran. and annot. by H. Norman Strickman and Arthur M. Silver. Menorah Pub., 1988-2004
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Kadim (east) is an adjective, since kedemah mizrachah (the east side) is a noun.
Ibn Ezra: Spain, 1089–1167 · Ibn Ezra on Exodus 10:13:1, via Sefaria, Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch, tran. and annot. by H. Norman Strickman and Arthur M. Silver. Menorah Pub., 1988-2004

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

24 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֨אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • יְהוָ֜הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • מֹשֶׁ֗הMoses

    moshehH4872 →765 times

  • נְטֵ֨הstretch out

    netehH5186 →214 times

  • יָדְךָ֜hand your

    yadekhaH3027 →1618 times

  • עַל־over

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • אֶ֤רֶץ[the] land of

    ʾeretzH776 →2504 times

  • מִצְרַ֙יִם֙Egypt

    mitzrayimH4714 →641 times

  • בָּֽאַרְבֶּ֔הfor the locust[s]

    baarbehH697 →24 times

  • וְיַ֖עַלso may it come up

    veyaalH5927 →890 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • אֶ֣רֶץ[the] land of

    ʾeretzH776 →2504 times

  • מִצְרָ֑יִםEgypt

    mitzrayimH4714 →641 times

  • וְיֹאכַל֙so it may eat

    veyokhalH398 →810 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • עֵ֣שֶׂב[the] vegetation of

    ʾesevH6212 →33 times

  • הָאָ֔רֶץthe land

    haaretzH776 →2504 times

  • אֵ֛ת<obj.>

    ʾetH853 →10935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רthat

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • הִשְׁאִ֖ירit left over

    hishirH7604 →133 times

  • הַבָּרָֽד׃the hail

    habaradH1259 →29 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Exodus 7:19

    And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers and canals and ponds and reservoirs—that they may become blood.’ There…

    it leads to

    • Exodus 14:21

      Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were…

    • Exodus 8:16

      Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may turn into swarms of gnats throughout the land of Egypt.’”

    • Exodus 10:21

      Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.”

    • Exodus 8:5–6

      And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.’”

    • Exodus 14:26

      Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.”

About Exodus

The Ninth Plague. Darkness — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Ninth Plague. Darkness — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Exodus: the study guide →Read Exodus 10 →

This page draws on Ambrose of Milan, The Six Days of Creation 5.23.82; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Exodus 10 →