The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water.’”
Water turned to blood strikes horror into the soul, but the justice runs deeper: Egypt made an idol of the Nile, and God justly turned their god into a curse. Whatever creature we worship instead of the Creator, the Lord will either remove from us or make bitter to our taste.
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Commenting on Exodus 7:14-25
The fish cannot survive when their element is changed to blood; the river stinks from the putrefied corpses floating in it; and the very sight of blood-colored water creates such nausea in the Egyptians that they loathe to drink it, or else they exhaust themselves digging about the banks trying to find clear water, or seeking cures to make it drinkable again.
AI summary
The Nile's water is so supremely pleasant and healthful that Egyptians prefer drinking it to seeing their own families. They speak of it as surpassing champaign among wines, inexpressibly agreeable, so salutary a man can drink three buckets daily without harm. When such water turns to blood and stinks, you grasp the true horror: the loss of what they loved above all else.
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