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1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs: 3 And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneadingtroughs: 4 And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. 5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. 6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. 7 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. 8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the LORD, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the LORD. 9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only? 10 And he said, To morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God. 11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only. 12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the LORD because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh. 13 And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields. 14 And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank. 15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. 16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. 17 And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. 18 And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast. 19 Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. 20 And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 21 Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. 22 And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. 23 And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be. 24 And the LORD did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies. 25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. 26 And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? 27 We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us. 28 And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me. 29 And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will intreat the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, to morrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD. 30 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD. 31 And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained not one. 32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.
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[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 8:2
For what reason do you puff yourself up with human pride? A man insulted you, and you swelled up and were angered. Rid yourself of the fleas that you may sleep. Find out who you are! For that you may know, brothers, that these things which would bother us were created to enable us to control our pride, [remember], God could have tamed the proud people of Pharaoh with bears, with lions or with snakes; he sent flies and frogs upon them that their pride might be tamed by the most ignoble of things.

Source: TRACTATE ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1.15
[AD 636] Isidore of Seville on Exodus 8:2
In the second plague frogs are brought forth. They are thought to stand figuratively for the songs of the poets. The poets have brought deceptive fables into this world, with their empty and conceited songs that are like the croaking of frogs. For the frog stands for empty loquacity. That animal is good for nothing else but to give out the sounds of its voice in offensive and annoying noises.

Source: QUESTIONS ON THE OLD TESTAMENT, EX 14:3
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Exodus 8:8
One should also observe that the term prayer,which often differs in meaning from “invocation,” is here employed in the case of one who promises in a vow to do certain things if God grants him certain other things. But the term is also used in the ordinary way. For example, we found this to be so in Exodus after the description of the plague of the frogs, which was the second of the ten plagues: … “But Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said to them: ‘Pray to the Lord on my account to take away the frogs from me and my people; and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ” When Pharaoh employs the word prayer the habitual meaning of “prayer” is conveyed in addition to the above meaning. If anyone finds this difficult to see, it becomes clear in what follows, namely: “And Moses said to Pharaoh: ‘Set me a time when I shall pray for you, and for your servants, and for your people, that the frogs may be driven away from you and from your house and from your people, and may remain only in the river.’ ”We noted, however, that in the case of the sciniphs, the third plague, Pharaoh does not ask that prayer be made, nor does Moses pray. And in the case of the flies, the fourth plague, he says, “Pray therefore for me to the Lord.” And then Moses said, “I will go out from you and will pray to the Lord. And the flies shall depart from Pharaoh, and from his servants, and from his people tomorrow.” And a little further on we read: “So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to God.” Again in the case of the fifth and also of the sixth plague Pharaoh did not ask that prayer be made, nor did Moses pray. In the seventh plague “Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron, saying to them, ‘I have sinned this time. The Lord is just, but I and my people are wicked. Pray to the Lord, that the thunderings of God and the hail and the fire may cease.’ ” And a little further on we read: “And Moses went from Pharaoh out of the city and stretched forth his hands to the Lord; and the thunders … ceased.” We shall discuss more suitably at another time why it is not said as on the previous occasions that “he prayed” but rather that “he stretched forth his hands to the Lord.” And in the case of the eighth plague Pharaoh says, “And pray to the Lord your God, that he take away from me this death. And Moses going forth from the presence of Pharaoh, prayed to the Lord.”

Source: ON PRAYER 3.2-3
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Exodus 8:8
Pray ye to the Lord: By this it appears, that though the magicians, by the help of the devil, could bring frogs, yet they could not take them away: God being pleased to abridge in this the power of Satan. So we see they could not afterwards produce the lesser insects; and in this restraint of the power of the devil, were forced to acknowledge the finger of God.
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Exodus 8:10
Take the example of Pharaoh, a man given to vain, empty thoughts. His land of Egypt was afflicted with a plague of frogs. They gave forth a surfeit of sound, meaningless and senseless. Moses said to Pharaoh, “Set me a time when I shall pray for you and for your servants and for your people that the Lord may exterminate the frogs.” Pharaoh, who because of his plight should have besought him to offer prayer, replied, “Tomorrow,” thus showing himself indifferent to the punishment that the delay would bring, although he was still intent on saving Egypt from the plague. And so, when his prayer was finally granted, he was unmindful of gratitude. Being puffed up in heart, he forgot God.

Source: CAIN AND ABEL 1.9.33
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Exodus 8:15
Hardened his own heart: By this we see that Pharao was himself the efficient cause of his heart being hardened, and not God.-- See the same repeated in ver. 32. Pharao hardened his heart at this time also: likewise chap. 9. 7, 35, and chap. 13. 15.
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Exodus 8:16
Sciniphs: Or Cinifs, Hebrew Chinnim, small flying insects, very troublesome both to men and beast.
[AD 636] Isidore of Seville on Exodus 8:18
After these plagues, gnats are brought forth. This animal flies through the air suspended on wings. But it is so subtle and minute that it escapes being seen by the eye unless one looks closely. But when it lands on the body it drills in with a sharp sting. If anyone cannot see it flying, he still feels its sting immediately.This sort of animal can be compared with the subtlety of heretics, who drill into souls with the subtle stings of their words. They attack with such cunning that one who is deceived neither sees nor understands the source of his deception. At the third sign the magicians yielded and said, “The finger of God is here.” Those magicians stand for heretics and their animosity.
The apostle states this when he says, “Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so too these men resisted the truth. They are corrupt in mind and reprobate in matters of faith. But they will not advance any further. Their madness will be manifested to everyone, just as Jannes’ and Jambres’ was.” The minds of the Egyptian magicians were disquieted by their own corruption, and their power failed at the third sign. They confessed that the Holy Spirit was against them, for the Spirit was in Moses.
The Holy Spirit is put in the third place, and he is the finger of God. Thus the magicians failed at the third sign and said, “The finger of God is here.” The Holy Spirit, well disposed and favorable, gives rest to the meek and humble of heart but, when he is opposed, stirs up disquiet against the merciless and the proud. Those tiny gnats signified this disquiet, at which Pharaoh’s magicians failed and said, “The finger of God is here.”

Source: QUESTIONS ON THE OLD TESTAMENT, EX 14:4-7
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 8:19
Here I see a difficulty occurring to one of limited knowledge [of Scripture], that is, why miracles are also done by magical arts, for the magicians of Pharaoh also made serpents and other similar things. But what is a much greater cause of wonder is how the power of the magicians, who could make serpents, utterly failed when it came to very small gnats. For the sciniphs, by which the proud people of Egypt were afflicted, are very small flies. And there certainly the magicians who failed, exclaimed, “This is the finger of God.” We are thereby given to understand that not even the angels and the spirits of the air, who transgressed and were cast from that home of sublime and ethereal beauty into this most profound darkness, as into a prison peculiar to them, could do anything that they could by means of their magical arts, if the power had not been given to them from above.

Source: THE TRINITY 3.7.12
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Exodus 8:19
Isn’t the finger of God to be understood as being the Holy Spirit? Read the Gospel, and see that where one Evangelist has the Lord saying, “If I with the Spirit of God cast out demons,” another says, “If I with the finger of God cast out demons.” So if that law too was written by the finger of God, that is, by the Spirit of God, the Spirit by which Pharaoh’s magicians were defeated, so they said, “This is the finger of God, … why can it not be said of it, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has delivered you from the law of sin and death”?

Source: SERMON 155.3
[AD 420] Jerome on Exodus 8:21
Kynomyia does not represent “dog fly,” as the Latins translated it, with the Greek letter upsilon; according to the sense of the Hebrew the diphthong oi should be written so that the word is koinomyia, that is, “every genus of flies.”

Source: LETTER 106.86
[AD 636] Isidore of Seville on Exodus 8:21
In the fourth place, Egypt is struck with flies. The fly is an insolent and restless animal. What does it stand for except the arrogant concerns of carnal desires? Egypt is struck with flies because the hearts of those who love this world are battered by the disquiet of their desires.The translators of the Septuagint put cynomyia here, which means “dog fly.” This word meant the habits of a dog, in which the pleasures of the mind and the indulgence of the flesh are constantly expressed. By dog fly this passage can also mean the eloquence of lawyers, which they use to tear at one another like dogs.

Source: QUESTIONS ON THE OLD TESTAMENT, EX 14:8-9
[AD 391] Pacian of Barcelona on Exodus 8:26
The Egyptians disdained the eating of sheep. But what the Egyptians abhor, the Israelites offer to God. The unjust despise a clean conscience as weak and abject, but the just turn it into a sacrifice to God of virtue. The righteous, as they worship God, offer their purity and gentleness to him. The reprobate despise these virtues and consider them foolishness. Exposition of the Old and New Testament, Exodus
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Exodus 8:26
You wrote to me that you were disturbed by what you read: “Let us sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to God.” But you had the means to explain it: that in Genesis it is written, “The Egyptians abominated the shepherd of flocks.” This was certainly not because of the man, but because of the sheep. For the Egyptians cultivated the earth with the plow; Abraham and Jacob, however, and later Moses and David, were shepherds and bestowed a certain royal discipline upon this occupation.Thus the Egyptians hated pure sacrifices, that is, zeal complete and perfect for virtue and discipline. For what wicked men hate is pure and pious among good men. The indulgent man hates the labor of virtue; the glutton shrinks back from it. And so the Egyptian body, because it loves allurements, turns away from the virtues of the soul. It hates authority, and shrinks from the discipline of the virtues and all labors of this sort.
The Egyptian, then flees these things; he is an Egyptian and not a man. You have knowledge of human nature; you will understand this. But reject what they follow and choose, since these two—prudence and folly—cannot be in accord with one another. And so, just as the virtues of prudence and continence exclude whatever belongs in any way to imprudence and intemperance, so every foolish man and every incontinent man has no part in what good men have or in the inheritance of the wise and continent man.

Source: LETTER 4(27).1-3
[AD 606] Paterius on Exodus 8:26
The Egyptians disdained the eating of sheep. But what the Egyptians abhor, the Israelites offer to God. The unjust despise a clean conscience as weak and abject, but the just turn it into a sacrifice to God of virtue. The righteous, as they worship God, offer their purity and gentleness to him. The reprobate despise these virtues and consider them foolishness.

Source: EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, EXODUS 13
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Exodus 8:26
The abominations: That is, the things they worship for Gods: oxen, rams, etc. It is the usual style of the scriptures to call all idols and false gods, abominations, to signify how much the people of God ought to detest and abhor them.