Psalms 78:45

45 He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them.

Psalms 78:45 in Other Translations

45 He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.

45 He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them and hordes of frogs to ruin them.

45 He sent flies, which ate them alive, and frogs, which bedeviled them.

45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; And frogs, which destroyed them.

45 He sent a swarm of flies that bit them and frogs that ruined them.

45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which fed on them, and frogs, which devastated them.

45 He sent large numbers of flies that bit them. He sent frogs that destroyed their land.

Psalms 78:45 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 78:45

He sent divers sorts of flies among them
This was the fourth plague; see ( Exodus 8:24 Exodus 8:25 ) , the word signifies a "mixture" ^F6, and the Targum renders it

``a mixture of wild beasts;''

so Josephus ^F7 understood this plague of various sorts of beasts of different forms, and such as had never been seen before. Aben Ezra, on ( Exodus 8:24 ) interprets it of evil beasts mixed together, as lions, wolves, bears, and leopards; and Jarchi, on the same place, of serpents and scorpions: the Syriac and Arabic versions here, following the Septuagint, render the word "dog flies"; so called because they were, as Pliny ^F8 says, very troublesome to dogs, and so might give the Egyptians greater uneasiness, because they worshipped dogs. God can make use of very mean and contemptible instruments, the least of insects, to plague and distress the most powerful enemies of his people;

which devoured them;
corrupted their land, ( Exodus 8:24 ) , perhaps produced a pestilence, which destroyed many of the inhabitants, or consumed the vegetables of the land; as but a few years ago ^F5, in New England, a sort of insects came out of little holes in the ground, in the form of maggots, and turned to flies, which for the space of two hundred miles poisoned and destroyed all the trees in the country ^F9:

and frogs, which destroyed them;
with their stench; see ( Exodus 8:5 Exodus 8:6 ) , with this plague compare ( Revelation 16:13 ) , this was the second plague.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 This was written about 1750. Editor.
F6 (bre) "mixtionem", Montanus; "miscellam", Vatablus; "a mixed swarm", Ainsworth.
F7 Antiqu. l. 2. c. 14. sect. 3.
F8 Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 34.
F9 See Philosoph. Transact. vol. 2. p. 766. See also p. 781.

Psalms 78:45 In-Context

43 the day he displayed his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Zoan.

44 He turned their river into blood; they could not drink from their streams.

45 He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them.

46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper, their produce to the locust.

47 He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore-figs with sleet.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 8:24; Psalms 105:31
• 2. S Exodus 8:2,6