And they gathered them together in heaps is literally “and they piled them heaps heaps.” They, of course, refers to “the Egyptians,” and them refers to the frogs. The manner in which the frogs were gathered … together is not specified, but it may have been by sweeping with brooms (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). The meaning of the literal “heaps heaps” may be understood either as “great heaps” or “countless heaps” (New English Bible). Childs has “one heap after another”; Durham has “pile after pile.”

And the land stank really means that the odor from the dead frogs was everywhere. It may be better to say “the land reeked of them” (New International Version), or “the stench of them was everywhere” (Translator’s Old Testament), or “they made the whole country stink.”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .