Bible Strands
Exodus 10:5
They will cover the face of the land so that no one can see it. They will devour whatever is left after the hail and eat every tree that grows in your fields.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses relays God's warning to Pharaoh that locusts will invade Egypt tomorrow if the Israelites remain captive. This declaration follows the hail plague and precedes the locusts' arrival.
The words — The Hebrew verb כִסָּה (kissah) means "it will cover," combined with עֵין הָאָרֶץ ("the eye of the land") to denote total obscuration. The construction לֹא יוּכַל לִרְאֹת ("not able to see") specifies complete visual and agricultural blinding.
The thread — The locust imagery reappears in Joel 1:4 and Joel 2:25, where successive swarms consume remaining crops. Exodus 9:32 contrasts this devastation by noting that late-growing wheat and spelt survived the preceding hail.
Why it lands — The text states that the locusts will consume all remaining vegetation and every field tree, leaving no resource untouched. It requires the reader to acknowledge that persistent refusal triggers irreversible judgment.
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 they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field:
Cross-references
- Exodus 9:32 but the wheat and spelt were not destroyed, because they are late crops.)
- Joel 1:4 What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.
- Joel 2:25 I will repay you for the years eaten by locusts—the swarming locust, the young locust, the destroying locust, and the devouring locust—My great army that I sent against you.