Exodus 8:14

8:14 The Egyptians ¹  piled them in countless heaps, ²  and the land stank.

Exodus 8:24

8:24 The Lord did so; a ³  thick ⁴  swarm of flies came into ⁵  Pharaoh’s house and into the houses ⁶  of his servants, and throughout the whole land of Egypt the land was ruined ⁷  because of the swarms of flies.

¹ tn Heb “and they piled them.” For clarity the translation supplies the referent “the Egyptians” as the ones who were piling the frogs.

² tn The word “heaps” is repeated: חֳמָרִם הֳמָרִם (khomarim khomarim). The repetition serves to intensify the idea to the highest degree – “countless heaps” (see GKC 396 §123.e).

³ tn Heb “and there came a….”

⁴ tn Heb “heavy,” or “severe.”

⁵ tn Here, and in the next phrase, the word “house” has to be taken as an adverbial accusative of termination.

⁶ tn The Hebrew text has the singular here.

⁷ 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…”