Bible Strands
Exodus 7:24
So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water from the river.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the Egyptian populace's response immediately after Pharaoh ignores the plague and retreats to his palace. This occurs during the first plague when the Nile has been turned to blood.
The words — The verb וַיַּחְפְּרוּ (va-yachpe·ru) translates literally as "and they dug," denoting the desperate excavation of new wells. The noun יְאֹר (ye·'or) specifically names "the River," identifying the Nile as the focal point of the judgment.
The thread — The collapse of the primary water source parallels the wilderness complaint in Exodus 15:24 and the later water-from-the-rock provision in Exodus 17:6. The river's corruption also anticipates the bowl judgments in Revelation 16:4.
Why it lands — The text states that Egyptians dug for water because the river was undrinkable. It asks the reader to recognize that human engineering cannot bypass divine decree.
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 all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.