Exodus 8:5

8:5 The Lord spoke to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Extend your hand with your staff ¹  over the rivers, over the canals, and over the ponds, and bring the frogs up over the land of Egypt.’”

Exodus 23:31

23:31 I will set ²  your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, ³  for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

Exodus 7:19

7:19 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over Egypt’s waters – over their rivers, over their canals, ⁴  over their ponds, and over all their reservoirs ⁵  – so that it becomes ⁶  blood.’ There will be blood everywhere in ⁷  the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers.”

[8:5]  ¹ sn After the instructions for Pharaoh (7:25-8:4), the plague now is brought on by the staff in Aaron’s hand (8:5-7). This will lead to the confrontation (vv. 8-11) and the hardening (vv. 12-15).

[23:31]  ² tn The form is a perfect tense with vav consecutive.

[23:31]  ³ tn In the Hebrew Bible “the River” usually refers to the Euphrates (cf. NASB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT). There is some thought that it refers to a river Nahr el Kebir between Lebanon and Syria. See further W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:447; and G. W. Buchanan, The Consequences of the Covenant (NovTSup), 91-100.

[7:19]  ³ tn Or “irrigation rivers” of the Nile.

[7:19]  ⁴ sn The Hebrew term means “gathering,” i.e., wherever they gathered or collected waters, notably cisterns and reservoirs. This would naturally lead to the inclusion of both wooden and stone vessels – down to the smallest gatherings.

[7:19]  ⁵ tn The imperfect tense with vav (ו) after the imperative indicates the purpose or result: “in order that they [the waters] be[come] blood.”

[7:19]  ⁶ tn Or “in all.”