There is little doubt that the Hebrew and Greek words mean “frog”. The plague of frogs mentioned in Exodus comes after the plague of polluted water. The frogs seem to have left the water and come into the villages. Since frogs eat flies and thus control fly populations, it seems likely that the death of the frogs was one of the causes of the next two plagues to trouble Egypt, namely gnats and flies.
The two most common frogs in the Middle East and Egypt are the Edible Frog Rana esculenta and the Spotted Frog Rana punctata. They are both about 70 millimeters (3 inches) long and are brown or olive-green in color. They live in the water almost all of the time and eat gnats, flies, and other waterside insects. They lay eggs, which hatch as tadpoles and gradually grow legs. The hind legs are much bigger and better developed than the front legs, since the hind legs are used for jumping.
Frogs were considered unclean by the Jews and also by the Egyptians and Persians, who associated them with demons.
Frogs are found all over the world, and there should be no problem in finding a local equivalent.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 8:2:
Kupsabiny: “And/But if you refuse, I will send frogs to fill the whole of Egypt.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “If you do not let them go. I’ll trouble you by sending frogs on your whole country.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “If you (sing.) indeed will- not -let- them -go, I will-cause- the frogs -to-fester/become-great-in-number-upon your (sing.) entire nation.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Bariai: “But yo, if you don’t allow them to go, then I’m going to cause many frogs to come forth in the area of Isip, and so I will destroy all your (pl.) areas.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Opo: “When you will reject let go their, I will curse country your with frog.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
English: “But if you refuse to let them go, I will punish you by sending frogs to cover your country.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
But if you refuse is very explicit here (unlike 4.23), so this implies that the Pharaoh is given an opportunity to agree to the demand and thus avoid the plague. Let them go, of course, refers to “my people,” the Israelites, in verse 1, so Good News Translation omits this. In a number of languages it will be necessary to repeat the phrase to let them go, as Revised Standard Version and New International Version do.
Behold is omitted in Good News Translation because it is archaic, but it may be rendered as “I warn you” (New American Bible). I will plague uses the emphatic pronoun I and the participle of the verb meaning “to injure,” or “to strike.” (The same root word is used again in 12.13 as a noun.) It does not refer to a disease, as the English word may suggest. If one is unable to find a suitable word for plague, it may be better to follow Good News Translation (and others) and translate the contextual meaning as “punish.”
All your country refers to all the land under the rule of the Pharaoh, the entire land of Egypt. With frogs goes with I will plague, meaning “I will send a plague of frogs” (New American Bible). Good News Translation rephrases the whole clause, including all your country: “I will punish your country by covering it with frogs.” Contemporary English Version has a slightly different rendering: “I will cover his entire country with frogs.” In languages where translators will find it difficult to translate the embedded quotations in 7.25–8.2, and where indirect speech will be more natural style, the following is an alternative translation model:
• Seven days after the LORD had changed the Nile River into blood, he said to Moses, “Go into the palace and tell the king that I [Yahweh] order him to release my people so that they can worship me. If he refuses to release them, then tell him that I will punish his whole country by covering it with frogs….”
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 .
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