Комментарий к Шмот 4:9

You shall take from the water of the river. He alluded to them that with the first plague He will exact retribution from their deity (Explanation: When God exacts retribution from the nations He first exacts retribution from their deity, for they had worshipped the Nile which gave them sustenance and He turned them (its waters) to blood. [This explanation is found] in an old Rashi manuscript.

V’HAYU’ (AND IT SHALL BE) THAT THE WATER WHICH THOU TAKEST OUT OF THE RIVER ‘V’HAYU’ (SHALL BECOME) BLOOD UPON THE DRY LAND. “The word v’hayu is mentioned here twice.²⁶¹The literal translation of the Hebrew text is: “And it shall be that the water which thou takest out of the river, and it will be blood upon the dry land.” It appears to me that if He had said, ‘V’hayu (And it shall be) that the water which thou takest out of the river be blood upon the dry land,’ I might understand it to mean that it would be turned into blood in his hand, and that also when it reached the ground it would remain in the same state. But now, [as the verse actually reads], the final v’hayu teaches us that it would not become blood until it reaches the dry land.”²⁶²The significance of this point is explained by L’vush Ha’orah (see Preface in Vol. I, p. IX, Note 12): If the water had turned into blood while still in Moses’ hand, skeptics could say that it was done through some secret art. But running or flowing water turning into blood upon reaching the ground was undeniably a miracle. Thus the language of Rashi.
But the purport of this verse is not as the Rabbi [Rashi] has it, and there is no need for his Midrash, for the masters of language²⁶³Found in R’dak’s Sefer Hamichlal. The repetition of a verb occurs after a lengthy intervening phrase. have found in many places that it is the normal style of Scripture to repeat words for the purpose of emphasis and significance, or because of some lengthy phrase intervening between them. Such a case is the verse: And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourneth, and come with all the desire of his soul.²⁶⁴Deuteronomy 18:6. Here Scripture repeats [the verb] “come” because of the lengthy expression between [the parts of the verse]. Similarly: And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah; and he said: When ye act as midwives, etc.;²⁶⁵Above, 1:15-16. Here the verb “said” is repeated because of the identification of the midwives stated in the verse. And G-d spoke unto Israel in the visions of the night, and He said: Jacob, Jacob.²⁶⁶Genesis 46:2. There are many instances of such verses.

והיו המים, the repetition of the word והיו applying to the same predicate is similar to a construction in Psalms 93,3 נשאו נהרות ה', נשאו נהרות קולם “the ocean sounds, O Lord; the ocean sounds in thunder, etc.” Another such construction is found in Psalms 94,3 עד מתי רשעי ה', עד מתי רשעים יעלוזו?, “for how long shall the wicked O Lord, for how long shall the wicked exult?”