Exodus Chapter 7 verse 24 Holy Bible
And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.
read chapter 7 in ASV
And all the Egyptians made holes round about the Nile to get drinking-water, for they were not able to make use of the Nile water.
read chapter 7 in BBE
And all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.
read chapter 7 in DARBY
And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.
read chapter 7 in KJV
And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.
read chapter 7 in WBT
All the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink; for they couldn't drink of the water of the river.
read chapter 7 in WEB
and all the Egyptians seek water round about the river to drink, for they have not been able to drink of the waters of the River.
read chapter 7 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 24-25. - Necessity is the mother of invention. Finding the Nile water continue utterly undrinkable, the Egyptians bethought themselves of a means of obtaining water to which they never had recourse in ordinary times. This was to dig pits or wells at some distance from the river, and so obtain the moisture that lay in the ground, no doubt derived from the river originally, but already there before the change of the water into blood took place. This, it appears, remained water, and was drinkable, though probably not very agreeable, since, owing to the nitrous quality of the soil in Egypt, well-water has always a bitter and brackish taste. It sufficed, however, for drinking and culinary purposes during the "seven days" that the plague continued (ver. 25). Verse 24. - All the Egyptians digged. Not the Hebrews. The water stored in the houses of the Hebrews in reservoirs, cisterns, and the like, was (it would seem) not vitiated; and this would suffice for the consumption of seven days. Water to drink. Blood would not become water by percolation through earth, as Canon Cook appears to think ('Speaker's Commentary,' vol. 1. p. 278); but there might have been sufficient water in the ground before the plague began, to fill the wells dug, for seven days.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(24) All the Egyptians digged round about the river.--Wells may be sunk in any part of the alluvium, and will always yield water, which is, however, brackish and unpalatable. This water is, no doubt, derived by percolation from the river; but the percolation is a slow process, and blood would scarcely percolate far. The water obtained was probably in the ground before the miracle took place, and was not made subject to it.
