Exo 8:24 | NET2full | STEP | The Lord did so ; a thick swarm of flies came into Pharaoh’s house and into the houses of his servants , and throughout the whole land of Egypt the land was ruined because of the swarms of flies .

Exodus 8:24

24 The Lord did so; a ^{▼▼tn Heb “and there came a….”} thick ^{▼▼tn Heb “heavy,” or “severe.”} swarm of flies came into ^{▼▼tn Here, and in the next phrase, the word “house” has to be taken as an adverbial accusative of termination.} Pharaoh’s house and into the houses ^{▼▼tn The Hebrew text has the singular here.} of his servants, and throughout the whole land of Egypt the land was ruined ^{▼▼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….”} ^{▼▼tn The Hebrew word תִּשָּׁחֵת (tishakhet) is a strong word; it is the Niphal imperfect of שָׁחַת (shakhat) and is translated “ruined.” If the classification as imperfect stands, then it would have to be something like a progressive imperfect (the land was being ruined); otherwise, it may simply be a preterite without the vav (ו) consecutive. The verb describes utter devastation. This is the verb that is used in Gen 13:10 to describe how Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Swarms of flies would disrupt life, contaminate everything, and bring disease.} because of the swarms of flies.