Exodus 7:17-18

7:17 Thus says the Lord: “By this you will know that I am the Lord: I am going to strike ¹  the water of the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood. ²  7:18 Fish ³  in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable ⁴  to drink water from the Nile.”’”

Psalms 78:44

78:44 He turned their rivers into blood,

and they could not drink from their streams.

Psalms 105:29

105:29 He turned their water into blood,

and killed their fish.

John 2:9-11

2:9 When ⁵  the head steward tasted the water that had been turned to wine, not knowing where it came from ⁶  (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), he ⁷  called the bridegroom 2:10 and said to him, “Everyone ⁸  serves the good wine first, and then the cheaper ⁹  wine when the guests ¹⁰  are drunk. You have kept the good wine until now!” 2:11 Jesus did this as the first of his miraculous signs, ¹¹  in Cana ¹²  of Galilee. In this way he revealed ¹³  his glory, and his disciples believed in him. ¹⁴ 

Revelation 8:8

8:8 Then ¹⁵  the second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain of burning fire was thrown into the sea. A ¹⁶  third of the sea became blood,

[7:17]  ¹ tn The construction using הִנֵּה (hinneh) before the participle (here the Hiphil participle מַכֶּה, makkeh) introduces a futur instans use of the participle, expressing imminent future, that he is about to do something.

[7:17]  ² sn W. C. Kaiser summarizes a view that has been adopted by many scholars, including a good number of conservatives, that the plagues overlap with natural phenomena in Egypt. Accordingly, the “blood” would not be literal blood, but a reddish contamination in the water. If there was an unusually high inundation of the Nile, the water flowed sluggishly through swamps and was joined with the water from the mountains that washed out the reddish soil. If the flood were high, the water would have a deeper red color. In addition to this discoloration, there is said to be a type of algae which produce a stench and a deadly fluctuation of the oxygen level of the river that is fatal to fish (see W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:350; he cites Greta Hort, “The Plagues of Egypt,” ZAW 69 [1957]: 84-103; same title, ZAW 70 [1958]: 48-59). While most scholars would agree that the water did not actually become blood (any more than the moon will be turned to literal blood [Joel 2:31]), many are not satisfied with this kind of explanation. If the event was a fairly common feature of the Nile, it would not have been any kind of sign to Pharaoh – and it should still be observable. The features that would have to be safeguarded are that it was understood to be done by the staff of God, that it was unexpected and not a mere coincidence, and that the magnitude of the contamination, color, stench, and death, was unparalleled. God does use natural features in miracles, but to be miraculous signs they cannot simply coincide with natural phenomena.

[7:18]  ³ tn The definite article here has the generic use, indicating the class – “fish” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 19, §92).

[7:18]  ⁴ 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.

[2:9]  ⁵ tn Grk “And when.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, δέ (de) has not been translated here.

[2:9]  ⁶ tn Grk “and he did not know where it came from.”

[2:9]  ⁷ tn Grk “the head steward”; here the repetition of the phrase is somewhat redundant in English and the pronoun (“he”) is substituted in the translation.

[2:10]  ⁸ tn Grk “every man” (in a generic sense).

[2:10]  ⁹ tn Or “poorer.”

[2:10]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “when they”; the referent (the guests) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:11]  ¹¹ tn This sentence in Greek involves an object-complement construction. The force can be either “Jesus did this as,” or possibly “Jesus made this to be.” The latter translation accents not only Jesus’ power but his sovereignty too. Cf. also 4:54 where the same construction occurs.

[2:11]  ¹² map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.

[2:11]  ¹³ tn Grk “in Cana of Galilee, and he revealed.”

[2:11]  ¹⁴ tn Or “his disciples trusted in him,” or “his disciples put their faith in him.”

[8:8]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[8:8]  ¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.