Exodus 7:24 describes the Egyptians being forced to dig holes along the riverbank because the Nile itself had turned undrinkable. It is a small, practical detail inside the first of the ten plagues, and it shows how far the disaster reached into ordinary daily life. The verse is narration rather than speech: the author of Exodus, traditionally identified as Moses, is describing what the people of Egypt had to do in the days after God struck the river.
All the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they couldn’t drink the river water.
Exodus 7:24 (WEB)
What Exodus 7:24 Means
The verse opens with “All the Egyptians,” which signals that this hardship was not limited to a few households or to the poor. Every person in the land, from the palace to the field, was affected, because the Nile was the central source of water, irrigation and food for the whole country. The phrase “dug around the river” describes a desperate workaround: rather than drawing from the flowing water, people excavated shallow wells in the soft ground near the banks, hoping to find seepage that was still clean enough to drink.
The closing clause, “for they couldn’t drink the river water,” gives the reason plainly. The water had been turned to blood, and the fish had died and rotted, so the river could not serve its usual purpose. The verse does not promise relief, explain why the plague came, or tell us how long it lasted. It records a hardship and its immediate response, and it leaves the larger meaning to the surrounding story of God’s judgment on Egypt and his claim over creation.
The Context of Exodus 7:24
Exodus is the second book of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, and it tells how God brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and formed them into a people under covenant. Moses is traditionally regarded as its author, and its first readers were the Israelites themselves, a community that had lived under Egyptian rule and was now learning who their God was and what he was doing. The plagues are set against Pharaoh’s refusal to let them go.
The verses just before and after make the scene clearer. In verses 21 through 23, the fish die and the water stinks, and Pharaoh stiffens his heart rather than yielding, even after his own magicians copy the sign. Verse 25 then notes that seven days passed after the river was struck. Read in that sequence, verse 24 is the human cost of Pharaoh’s stubbornness: while the king goes back into his house unmoved, the people of Egypt are out in the heat scraping the ground for water.
Key Phrases in Exodus 7:24
Exodus 7:21
The fish that were in the river died; and the river became foul, and the Egyptians couldn’t drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.
(WEB)
This verse describes the fish dying and the water becoming foul, the immediate cause of the situation in verse 24. Reading it first shows how the crisis unfolded and why the Egyptians had no clean water left to drink from the river.
Exodus 7:25
Seven days were fulfilled, after the LORD had struck the river.
(WEB)
This verse notes that seven days passed after the river was struck, giving the timeline for the hardship in verse 24. It shows that the thirst and digging went on for a set period, not forever, and it keeps the reader aware of God’s unfolding purposes across the plagues.
A Short Prayer From Exodus 7:24
Lord, you see the people who are digging in the dry ground for what they need and find only frustration. Give me patience when my own efforts seem fruitless, and help me notice where you are at work even when the obvious sources have failed. Where I am tempted to close my heart like Pharaoh, soften it, and where I am carrying a burden alongside others, show me how to care for them well. Keep me honest before you in every hard season. Amen.
