✝
← Bible
ARCBLIVREKJVVBL

Êxodo 8

BLIVRE · Chapter 8/40

1Então o SENHOR disse a Moisés: Entra à presença de Faraó, e dize-lhe: O SENHOR disse assim: Deixa meu povo ir, para que me sirvam.

2E se não o quiseres deixar ir, eis que ferirei com rãs todo os teu território;

3E o rio criará rãs, que subirão, e entrarão em tua casa, e no teu quarto, e sobre tua cama, e nas casas de teus servos, e em teu povo, e em teus fornos, e em tuas amassadeiras;

4E as rãs subirão sobre ti, e sobre teu povo, e sobre todos os teus servos.

5E o SENHOR disse a Moisés: Dize a Arão: Estende tua mão com tua vara sobre os rios, ribeiros, e tanques, para que faça vir rãs sobre a terra do Egito.

6Então Arão estendeu sua mão sobre as águas do Egito, e subiram rãs que cobriram a terra do Egito.

7E os encantadores fizeram o mesmo com seus encantamentos, e fizeram vir rãs sobre a terra do Egito.

8Então Faraó chamou Moisés e Arão, e disse-lhes: Orai ao SENHOR que tire as rãs de mim e de meu povo; e deixarei ir ao povo, para que sacrifique ao SENHOR.

9E disse Moisés a Faraó: Tem a honra em meu lugar [de dizer] quando orarei por ti, e por teus servos, e por teu povo, para que as rãs sejam tiradas de ti, e de tuas casas, e que somente se restem no rio.

10E ele disse: Amanhã. E Moisés respondeu: Será feito conforme tua palavra, para que conheças que não há ninguém como o SENHOR nosso Deus;

11E as rãs se irão de ti, e de tuas casas, e de teus servos, e de teu povo, e somente se ficarão no rio.

12Então saíram Moisés e Arão da presença de Faraó, e clamou Moisés ao SENHOR acerca das rãs que havia posto a Faraó.

13E o SENHOR fez conforme a palavra de Moisés, e morreram as rãs das casas, dos pátios, e dos campos.

14E as juntaram em amontoados, e faziam cheirar mal a terra.

15E vendo Faraó que lhe haviam dado repouso, agravou seu coração, e não os escutou; como o SENHOR o havia dito.

16Então o SENHOR disse a Moisés: Dize a Arão: Estende a tua vara, e fere o pó da terra, para que se voltem piolhos por toda a terra do Egito.

17E eles o fizeram assim; e Arão estendeu sua mão com sua vara, e feriu o pó da terra, o qual se tornou piolhos, tanto nos homens como nos animais; todo o pó da terra se tornou piolhos em toda a terra do Egito.

18E os encantadores tentaram fizeram assim também, para tirar piolhos com seus encantamentos; mas não puderam. E havia piolhos tanto nos homens como nos animais.

19Então os magos disseram a Faraó: Dedo de Deus é este. Mas o coração de Faraó se endureceu, e não os escutou; como o SENHOR o havia dito.

20E o SENHOR disse a Moisés: Levanta-te de manhã e põe-te diante de Faraó, eis que ele estará saindo às águas; e dize-lhe: o SENHOR disse assim: Deixa meu povo ir, para que me sirva.

21Porque se não deixares meu povo ir, eis que enviarei sobre ti, e sobre teus servos, e sobre teu povo, e sobre tuas casas toda variedade de moscas; e as casas dos egípcios se encherão de toda variedade de moscas, e também a terra onde eles estiverem.

22E naquele dia separarei a terra de Gósen, na qual meu povo habita, para que nenhuma variedade de moscas haja nela; a fim de que saibas que eu sou o SENHOR no meio da terra.

23E eu porei remissão entre meu povo e o teu. Amanhã será este sinal.

24E o SENHOR o fez assim: veio toda variedade de moscas incômodas sobre a casa de Faraó, e sobre as casas de seus servos, e sobre toda a terra do Egito; e a terra foi contaminada por causa delas.

25Então Faraó chamou a Moisés e a Arão, e disse-lhes: Andai, sacrificai a vosso Deus nesta terra.

26E Moisés respondeu: Não convém que façamos assim, porque sacrificaríamos ao SENHOR nosso Deus a abominação dos egípcios. Eis que, se sacrificássemos a abominação dos egípcios diante deles, não nos apedrejariam?

27Caminho de três dias iremos pelo deserto, e sacrificaremos ao SENHOR nosso Deus, como ele nos dirá.

28E disse Faraó: Eu vos deixarei ir para que sacrifiqueis ao SENHOR vosso Deus no deserto, contanto que não vades mais longe; orai por mim.

29E respondeu Moisés: Eis que, quando eu sair de tua presença, rogarei ao SENHOR que as diversas variedades de moscas se afastem de Faraó, e de seus servos, e de seu povo amanhã; contanto que Faraó não falte mais, não deixando o povo ir sacrificar ao SENHOR.

30Então Moisés saiu da presença de Faraó, e orou ao SENHOR.

31E o SENHOR fez conforme a palavra de Moisés; e tirou todas aquelas moscas de Faraó, e de seus servos, e de seu povo, sem que restasse uma.

32Mas Faraó agravou ainda esta vez seu coração, e não deixou o povo ir.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God sends the plagues of frogs, lice, and flies upon Egypt; Pharaoh repeatedly promises to let the people go, but changes his mind as soon as each plague is removed.

Explanation

This chapter shows a pattern that will repeat throughout the entire plague narrative: Pharaoh, under immediate pressure, promises to give in, but resumes his stubbornness as soon as relief comes, revealing a shallow, self-interested repentance rather than a true change of heart. The plagues of frogs and flies, though treated almost as 'lesser' plagues compared to those that follow, already demonstrate God's growing power over creation, including the careful separation between the people of Israel (protected in the land of Goshen) and the Egyptians — a clear sign that the events were not natural coincidences but deliberate acts of God. The Egyptian magicians' inability to replicate the plague of lice, leading them to acknowledge 'this is the finger of God' (v. 19), is a remarkable moment when even the opponents themselves recognize, if only partially, a spiritual reality that Pharaoh insists on ignoring.

Fun facts

  • The frog (represented by the Egyptian goddess Heket, associated with fertility and childbirth) becoming an unbearable plague is another example of theological irony: an Egyptian symbol of blessing and life turns into a source of disgust and mass death, emptying out its supposed divine power.
  • The Egyptian magicians' statement, 'this is the finger of God' (v. 19), is remarkably echoed centuries later by Jesus in Luke 11:20, when He describes His own miracles as a sign of God's power working visibly in the world.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Êxodo 8:1After the seven days at the end of the previous chapter, God sends Moses to make a new request to Pharaoh, introducing the second plague.
  2. Êxodo 8:2The threat is specific: if Pharaoh keeps refusing, frogs will invade all of Egyptian territory, a problem quite different from and more invasive than the polluted river.
  3. Êxodo 8:3The description details how the frogs, normally a nuisance confined to the water, will invade even the most private spaces of homes, including beds and ovens.
  4. Êxodo 8:4It repeats the reach of the plague: no one in Egypt, neither Pharaoh nor the common people, would be free from the invasion of frogs.
  5. Êxodo 8:5As in the previous plague, it is Aaron who stretches out the staff to set the sign in motion, following the division of roles already established between the two brothers.
  6. Êxodo 8:6The plague comes to pass exactly as announced: frogs come up out of the Egyptian waters and cover the whole land.
  7. Êxodo 8:7The magicians of Egypt repeat the same feat as the previous plague, imitating the sign, even though making more frogs appear only made everyone’s situation worse.
  8. Êxodo 8:8For the first time, Pharaoh directly asks for Moses’s intercession to end a plague, promising in return to let the people go sacrifice.
  9. Êxodo 8:9Moses lets Pharaoh choose the exact moment when the plague will end, making clear that the power behind the miracle belongs to God alone.
  10. Êxodo 8:10Pharaoh chooses the next day for the plague to end, and Moses agrees, explaining that the whole point is to show that there is no god like the LORD.
  11. Êxodo 8:11It repeats the promise: the frogs will disappear from everywhere else, remaining only in the river, their natural habitat.
  12. Êxodo 8:12Moses keeps his word and prays to God specifically about the plague he himself had announced to Pharaoh.
  13. Êxodo 8:13God answers Moses’s request, and the frogs die en masse in the houses, courtyards, and fields throughout Egypt.
  14. Êxodo 8:14The Egyptians gather the bodies of the dead frogs into heaps, and the smell of decay takes over the air — relief accompanied by another nuisance.
  15. Êxodo 8:15As soon as he feels the relief of the plague, Pharaoh goes back on his promise and hardens his heart again, repeating the pattern God had already told Moses to expect.
  16. Êxodo 8:16With no prior warning to Pharaoh, God sends Aaron to start the third plague, turning the very dust of the Egyptian ground into lice.
  17. Êxodo 8:17The plague takes effect immediately and strikes both people and animals, covering the whole land of Egypt with lice coming out of the ground.
  18. Êxodo 8:18This time the Egyptian magicians try to imitate the sign, but fail — it is the first plague they cannot reproduce with their own tricks.
  19. Êxodo 8:19The Egyptian magicians themselves, who up to then had managed to imitate the earlier plagues, admit that this is the “finger of God” when they cannot reproduce the lice coming up out of the dust. The expression means acknowledging a direct act of God, something their magic or tricks simply cannot reach.
  20. Êxodo 8:20After the plague of lice, God sends Moses to approach Pharaoh again in the morning, by the river, repeating the same request for the people’s freedom.
  21. Êxodo 8:21The threat now involves swarms of flies, which would invade both the Egyptians’ houses and the very ground they stood on, another widespread plague.
  22. Êxodo 8:22Goshen was the region of the Nile Delta where the Hebrews had lived since the time of Joseph, set apart from the rest of Egypt. From here on God begins sparing that area from the plagues, a distinction that makes clear to the Egyptians that what is happening has a defined target, not just some random disaster.
  23. Êxodo 8:23God promises to draw a dividing line between the Hebrew people and the Egyptians, making clear that the plague has a defined target, not a random disaster.
  24. Êxodo 8:24The plague comes to pass as announced, with swarms overrunning Pharaoh’s house and all Egyptian territory, sparing only Goshen.
  25. Êxodo 8:25For the first time Pharaoh seems to really give in, calling Moses and Aaron and authorizing the sacrifice, but he still imposes a condition in the next verse.
  26. Êxodo 8:26Moses explains to Pharaoh that sacrificing sheep and oxen to the LORD inside Egypt would be dangerous, because these animals were sacred to the Egyptians, and killing them in public would be seen as a serious religious insult. That is why he insists on going three days’ distance, into the wilderness, away from Egyptian eyes.
  27. Êxodo 8:27Moses refuses Pharaoh’s condition and insists on the original plan: going out into the wilderness, three days’ distance away, as God had directed since chapter 3.
  28. Êxodo 8:28Pharaoh agrees to the trip into the wilderness, but asks that they not go too far, and even asks them to pray for him, revealing some fragility behind his resistance.
  29. Êxodo 8:29Moses agrees to pray for the plague to end, but warns that he will no longer accept deception from Pharaoh regarding the people’s freedom — a suspicion soon confirmed.
  30. Êxodo 8:30Keeping his word, Moses leaves Pharaoh’s presence and prays to God for the end of the plague of flies.
  31. Êxodo 8:31God answers Moses’s request, and the flies disappear completely, without leaving a single trace.
  32. Êxodo 8:32Even after seeing the plague end as promised, Pharaoh goes back on his word once again and does not let the people go, repeating the pattern of the earlier plagues.

Chapters

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

App StoreGoogle Play

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.

App StoreGoogle Play