Keluaran 8:17
Konteks8:17 They did so; Aaron extended his hand with his staff, he struck the dust of the ground, and it became gnats on people 1 and on animals. All the dust of the ground became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.
Keluaran 8:24
Konteks8:24 The Lord did so; a 2 thick 3 swarm of flies came into 4 Pharaoh’s house and into the houses 5 of his servants, and throughout the whole land of Egypt the land was ruined 6 because of the swarms of flies.
[8:17] 1 tn Heb “man,” but in the generic sense of “humans” or “people” (also in v. 18).
[8:24] 2 tn Heb “and there came a….”
[8:24] 3 tn Heb “heavy,” or “severe.”
[8:24] 4 tn Here, and in the next phrase, the word “house” has to be taken as an adverbial accusative of termination.
[8:24] 5 tn The Hebrew text has the singular here.
[8:24] 6 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…”
[8:24] 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.