Discovery BoxPsalms 105:28-36 
Contextthey did not disobey his orders. 2
105:29 He turned their water into blood,
and killed their fish.
105:30 Their land was overrun by frogs,
which even got into the rooms of their kings.
105:31 He ordered flies to come; 3
gnats invaded their whole territory.
105:32 He sent hail along with the rain; 4
there was lightning in their land. 5
105:33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees,
and broke the trees throughout their territory.
105:34 He ordered locusts to come, 6
innumerable grasshoppers.
105:35 They ate all the vegetation in their land,
and devoured the crops of their fields. 7
105:36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the firstfruits of their reproductive power. 8
1 tn Heb “he sent darkness and made it dark.”
sn He made it dark. The psalmist begins with the ninth plague (see Exod 10:21-29).
2 tn Heb “they did not rebel against his words.” Apparently this refers to Moses and Aaron, who obediently carried out God’s orders.
3 tn Heb “he spoke and flies came.”
4 tn Heb “he gave their rains hail.”
5 tn Heb “fire of flames [was] in their land.”
6 tn Heb “he spoke and locusts came.”
7 tn Heb “the fruit of their ground.”
8 tn Heb “the beginning of all their strength,” that is, reproductive power (see Ps 78:51).
sn Verses 28-36 recall the plagues in a different order than the one presented in Exodus: v. 28 (plague 9), v. 29 (plague 1), v. 30 (plague 2), v. 31a (plague 4), v. 31b (plague 3), vv. 32-33 (plague 7), vv. 34-35 (plague 8), v. 36 (plague 10). No reference is made in Ps 105 to plagues 5 and 6.
