Psa 78:44-51 | NET2full | STEP | He turned their rivers into blood , and they could not drink from their streams .

‏ Psalms 78:44-51

44 He turned their rivers into blood,
and they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent swarms of biting insects against them, ^{▼▼tn Heb “and he sent an insect swarm against them and it devoured them.”}
as well as frogs that overran their land. ^{▼▼tn Heb “and a swarm of frogs and it destroyed them.”}
46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper,
the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore-fig trees with driving rain.
48 He rained hail down on their cattle ^{▼▼tn Heb “and he turned over to the hail their cattle.”}
and hurled lightning bolts down on their livestock. ^{▼▼tn Heb “and their livestock to the flames.” “Flames” here refer to the lightning bolts that accompanied the storm.}
49 His raging anger lashed out against them. ^{▼▼tn Heb “he sent against them the rage of his anger.” The phrase “rage of his anger” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.}
He sent fury, rage, and trouble
as messengers who bring disaster. ^{▼▼tn Heb “fury and indignation and trouble, a sending of messengers of disaster.”}
50 He sent his anger in full force. ^{▼▼tn Heb “he leveled a path for his anger.” There were no obstacles to impede its progress; it moved swiftly and destructively.}
He did not spare them from death;
he handed their lives over to destruction. ^{▼▼tn Or perhaps “[the] plague.”}
51 He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their reproductive power ^{▼▼tn Heb “the beginning of strength.” If retained, the plural form אוֹנִים (ʾonim, “strength”) probably indicates degree (“great strength”), but many ancient witnesses read “their strength,” which presupposes an emendation to אֹנָם (ʾonam; singular form of the noun with third masculine plural pronominal suffix).} in the tents of Ham.