Bible Strands
Exodus 10:19
And the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind that carried off the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust remained anywhere in Egypt.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses has just appealed to the LORD to remove the locust plague, and the text records Yahweh directly altering the wind to sweep them into the Red Sea. This event occurs immediately after the locust devastation and directly precedes the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.
The words — The verb וַ/יַּהֲפֹ֨ךְ (va/yi.hafoch) literally means "and He turned" or "changed," describing Yahweh's direct alteration of the wind's direction. The phrase יָם חָזָק מְאֹד (yam chazak me'od) translates to "a very strong west wind," specifying the exact force and geographic direction of the removal.
The thread — This reversal of a destructive wind runs parallel to later scriptural accounts where God drives hostile forces to the sea, as recorded in Joel 2:20 and Exodus 15:4. The locusts' expulsion to the Red Sea also aligns with the Israelites' subsequent wilderness route toward that same body of water in Exodus 13:18.
Why it lands — The text states that Yahweh personally changed the wind and eliminated every locust from Egypt, with no human agent performing the removal. It requires the reader to acknowledge that divine control over nature, not human negotiation, determines the resolution of the conflict.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.
Cross-references
- Joel 2:20 The northern army I will drive away from you, banishing it to a barren and desolate land, its front ranks into the Eastern Sea, and its rear guard into the Western Sea. And its stench will rise; its foul odor will ascend. For He has done great things.
- Exodus 13:18 So God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the Israelites left the land of Egypt arrayed for battle.
- Exodus 15:4 Pharaoh’s chariots and army He has cast into the sea; the finest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea.
- Hebrews 11:29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were drowned.