Exodus 10:21
And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch out thy hand towards heaven: and may there be darkness upon the land of Egypt, so thick that it may be felt.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Dixit autem Dominus ad Moysen : Extende manum tuam in cælum : et sint tenebræ super terram Ægypti tam densæ, ut palpari queant.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Εἶπεν δὲ Κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν Ἔκτεινον τὴν χεῖρά σου εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, καὶ γενηθήτω σκότος ἐπὶ γῆν Αἰγύπτου, ψηλαφητὸν σκότος.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֶל מֹשֶׁ֗ה נְטֵ֤ה יָֽדְךָ֙ עַל הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וִ֥יהִי חֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל אֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם וְיָמֵ֖שׁ חֹֽשֶׁךְ
Haydock's commentary
Darkness upon the land of Egypt so thick that it may be felt. By means of the gross exhalations, which were to cause and accompany the darkness. (Challoner)
Thus were the Egyptians punished for keeping the Hebrews in dark prisons. (Menochius)
Philo says, even a lighted lamp or fire was extinguished. The Egyptians were affrighted with hideous spectres and evil angels. (Psalm lxxvii. 49; Wisdom xvii. 4.)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Gregory Nazianzen The Last Farewell in the Presence of the One Hundred and Fifty Bishops
2. What then is my defence? If it be false, you must convict me, but if true, you on behalf of whom and in whose presence I speak, must bear witness to it. For you are my defence, my witnesses, and my crown of rejoicing, if I also may venture to boast myself a little in the Apostle’s language. This flock was, when it was small and poor, as far as appearances went, nay, not even a flock, but a slight trace and relic of a flock, without order, or shepherd, or bounds, with neither right to pasturage, nor the defence of a fold, wandering upon the mountains and in caves and dens of the earth, scattered and dispersed hither and thither as each one could find shelter or pasture, or could gratefully secure its own safety; like that flock which was harassed by lions, dispersed by tempest, or scattered in darkness, the lamentation of prophets who compared it to the misfortunes of Israel, given up …