Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Joseph. AJ]. | ||
<<Joseph. AJ 2.288 | Joseph. AJ 2.304 (Greek) | >>Joseph. AJ 2.318 |
But when God saw that he was ungrateful, and upon the ceasing of this calamity would not grow wiser, he sent another plague upon the Egyptians: - An innumerable multitude of frogs consumed the fruit of the ground; the river was also full of them, insomuch that those who drew water had it spoiled by the blood of these animals, as they died in, and were destroyed by, the water; and the country was full of filthy slime, as they were born, and as they died: they also spoiled their vessels in their houses which they used, and were found among what they eat and what they drank, and came in great numbers upon their beds. There was also an ungrateful smell, and a stink arose from them, as they were born, and as they died therein. Now, when the Egyptians were under the oppression of these miseries, the king ordered Moses to take the Hebrews with him, and be gone. Upon which the whole multitude of the frogs vanished away; and both the land and the river returned to their former natures. But as soon as Pharaoh saw the land freed from this plague, he forgot the cause of it, and retained the Hebrews; and, as though he had a mind to try the nature of more such judgments, he would not yet suffer Moses and his people to depart, having granted that liberty rather out of fear than out of any good consideration. note
2.300Accordingly, God punished his falseness with another plague, added
to the former; for there arose out of the bodies of the Egyptians an innumerable
quantity of lice, by which, wicked as they were, they miserably perished,
as not able to destroy this sort of vermin either with washes or with ointments.
At which terrible judgment the king of
But when Pharaoh did not even then yield to the will of God, but,
while he gave leave to the husbands to take their wives with them, yet
insisted that the children should be left behind, God presently resolved
to punish his wickedness with several sorts of calamities, and those worse
than the foregoing, which yet had so generally afflicted them; for their
bodies had terrible boils, breaking forth with blains, while they were
already inwardly consumed; and a great part of the Egyptians perished in
this manner. But when the king was not brought to reason by this plague,
hail was sent down from heaven; and such hail it was, as the climate
of
One would think the forementioned calamities might have been sufficient for one that was only foolish, without wickedness, to make him wise, and to make him Sensible what was for his advantage. But Pharaoh, led not so much by his folly as by his wickedness, even when he saw the cause of his miseries, he still contested with God, and willfully deserted the cause of virtue; so he bid Moses take the Hebrews away, with their wives and children, to leave their cattle behind, since their own cattle were destroyed. But when Moses said that what he desired was unjust, since they were obliged to offer sacrifices to God of those cattle, and the time being prolonged on this account, a thick darkness, without the least light, spread itself over the Egyptians, whereby their sight being obstructed, and their breathing hindered by the thickness of the air, they died miserably, and under a terror lest they should be swallowed up by the dark cloud. Besides this, when the darkness, after three days and as many nights, was dissipated, and when Pharaoh did not still repent and let the Hebrews go, Moses came to him and said, "How long wilt thou be disobedient to the command of God? for he enjoins thee to let the Hebrews go; nor is there any other way of being freed from the calamities are under, unless you do so." But the king angry at what he said, and threatened to cut off his head if he came any more to trouble him these matters. Hereupon Moses said he not speak to him any more about them, for he himself, together with the principal men among the Egyptians, should desire the Hebrews away. So when Moses had said this, he his way.
Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Joseph. AJ]. | ||
<<Joseph. AJ 2.288 | Joseph. AJ 2.304 (Greek) | >>Joseph. AJ 2.318 |