Exodus 7:18

7:18 Fish ¹  in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable ²  to drink water from the Nile.”’”

Exodus 7:21

7:21 When the fish ³  that were in the Nile died, the Nile began ⁴  to stink, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood ⁵  everywhere in the land of Egypt!

[7:18]  ¹ tn The definite article here has the generic use, indicating the class – “fish” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 19, §92).

[7:18]  ² tn The verb לָאָה (la’a), here in the Niphal perfect with a vav consecutive, means “be weary, impatient.” The Niphal meaning is “make oneself weary” in doing something, or “weary (strenuously exert) oneself.” It seems always to indicate exhausted patience (see BDB 521 s.v.). The term seems to imply that the Egyptians were not able to drink the red, contaminated water, and so would expend all their energy looking for water to drink – in frustration of course.

[7:21]  ³ tn The first clause in this verse begins with a vav disjunctive, introducing a circumstantial clause to the statement that the water stank. The vav (ו) consecutive on the next verb shows that the smell was the result of the dead fish in the contaminated water. The result is then expressed with the vav beginning the clause that states that they could not drink it.

[7:21]  ⁴ tn The preterite could be given a simple definite past translation, but an ingressive past would be more likely, as the smell would get worse and worse with the dead fish.

[7:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “and there was blood.”