Frog

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

צפרדע ; Arabic, akurrak; Greek, βατραχος ;  Exodus 8:2-14;  Psalms 78:45;  Psalms 105:30;  Revelation 16:13 . When God plagued Pharaoh and his people, the river Nile, which was the object of great admiration to the Egyptians, was made to contribute to their punishment. "The river brought forth frogs abundantly:" but the circumstance of their coming up into the bed chambers, and into the ovens and kneading troughs, needs explanation to us, whose domestic apartments and economy are so different from those of the ancient nations. Their lodgings were not in upper stories, but in recesses on the ground floor; and their ovens were not like ours, built on the side of a chimney, and adjacent to a fireplace, where the glowing heat would frighten away the frogs, but they dug a hole in the ground, in which they placed an earthen pot, which having sufficiently heated, they stuck their cakes to the inside to be baked. To find such places full of frogs when they came to heat them in order to bake their bread, and to see frogs in the beds where they sought repose, must have been both disgusting and distressing in the extreme. Frogs were reckoned unclean by the Hebrews.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A supporting plate having raised ribs that form continuations of the rails, to guide the wheels where one track branches from another or crosses it.

(2): ( n.) The loop of the scabbard of a bayonet or sword.

(3): ( v. t.) To ornament or fasten (a coat, etc.) with trogs. See Frog, n., 4.

(4): ( n.) An amphibious animal of the genus Rana and related genera, of many species. Frogs swim rapidly, and take long leaps on land. Many of the species utter loud notes in the springtime.

(5): ( n.) The triangular prominence of the hoof, in the middle of the sole of the foot of the horse, and other animals; the fourchette.

(6): ( n.) An oblong cloak button, covered with netted thread, and fastening into a loop instead of a button hole.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Βάτραχος (Strong'S #944 — Noun Masculine — batrachos — bat'-rakh-os )

is mentioned in  Revelation 16:13 . Quacks were represented as "frogs" and were associated metaphorically with serpents.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Frog. A well-known amphibious animal of the genus Rana . The mention of this reptile in the Old Testament is confined to the passage in  Exodus 8:2-7 etc., in which the plague of frogs is described, and to  Psalms 78:45;  Psalms 105:30.

In the New Testament, the word occurs once only, in  Revelation 16:13. There is no question as to the animal meant. The only known species of frog which occurs at present in Egypt is the Rana esculenta , the edible frog of the continent.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

This well-known reptile is very numerous in Palestine. It is only referred to in the O.T. in connection with the second of the plagues in Egypt.  Exodus 8:2-14;  Psalm 78:45;  Psalm 105:30 . In the N.T. three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet.  Revelation 16:13 . Frogs are remarkable for grovelling in the mire, with great noise and activity in the night.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

FROG. 1. tsephardça‘ ,   Exodus 8:2-14 ,   Psalms 78:45;   Psalms 105:30 one of the plagues of Egypt. 2. batrachos (Gr.),   Revelation 16:13-14 , a type of uncleanness. The edible frog and the little green tree-frog are both common all over the Holy Land.

E. W. G. Masterman.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Frog. The original Hebrew word signifies a marsh-leaper. We find frogs mentioned only in connection with the plague inflicted upon the Egyptians.  Exodus 8:2-14;  Psalms 78:45;  Psalms 105:30, and for illustration,  Revelation 16:13. Naturalists disagree as to the species of frogs at present found in Egypt.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Exodus 8:2-14 Psalm 78:45 105:30

In the New Testament this word occurs only in  Revelation 16:13 , where it is referred to as a symbol of uncleanness. The only species of frog existing in Palestine is the green frog (Rana esculenta), the well-known edible frog of the Continent.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A well known amphibious animal, famous in connection with the plagues in Egypt,  Exodus 8:1-14 . The magicians are said to have brought up frogs upon the land by their enchantments; but as they could not remove them, it is clear that they did not actually produce them. They penetrated everywhere-to the beds of the Egyptians, which were near the ground; and to their ovens, which were cavities in the ground.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Exodus 8:2 (c) Probably this is symbolical of those wicked, filthy repugnant habits and ways which Satan brings into men's lives for dishonorable purposes. (See also  Revelation 16:13).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Frog . Although the common frog is so well known that no description is needed to satisfy the reader, it may be necessary to mention that the only species recorded as existing in Palestine is the green (Rana esculenta), and that of all the authorities we have been able to consult, Dr. Richardson alone refers the species of Egypt to the green speckled gray frog (Rana punctata). But considering the immense extent of the Nile from south to north, and the amazing abundance of these animals which it contains in the state of spawn, tadpole, and complete frog, it is likely that the speckled is not the only species found in its waters, and that different species, if they do not occur in the same locality, are at least to be met with in different latitudes. The speckled species is found westward even to the north of France, but is not common in Europe. It is lively, but no strong swimmer, the webs on the hinder toes extending only half their length; hence, perhaps, it is more a terrestrial animal than the common green frog, and, like the brown species, is given to roam on land in moist weather.

Although it is very hazardous, in transactions of an absolutely miraculous nature, to attempt to point out the instruments that may have served to work out the purposes of the Almighty, we may conjecture that, in the plague of frogs, a species, the one perhaps we have just mentioned, was selected for its agility on land, and that, although the fact is not expressly mentioned, the awful visitation was rendered still more ominous by the presence of dark and rainy weather—an atmospheric condition never of long duration on the coast of Egypt, and gradually more and more rare up the course of the river. We have ourselves witnessed, during a storm of rain, frogs crowding into our cabin, in the lowlands of Guiana, till they were packed up in the corners of the apartment, and continually falling back in their attempts to ascend above their fellows; and the door could not be opened without others entering more rapidly than those within could be expelled. Now, as the temples, palaces, and cities of Egypt stood, in general, on the edge of the ever dry desert, and always above the level of the highest inundations, to be there visited by a continuation of immense number of frogs was assuredly a most distressing calamity; and as this phenomenon, in its ordinary occurrence within the tropics, is always accompanied by the storms of the monsoon or of the setting in of the rainy season, the dismay it must have caused may be judged of when we reflect that the plague occurred where rain seldom or never falls, where none of the houses are fitted to lead off the water, and that the animals appeared in localities where they had never before been found, and where, at all other times, the scorching sun would have destroyed them in a few minutes. Nor was the selection of the frog as an instrument of God's displeasure without portentous meaning in the minds of the idolatrous Egyptians, who considered that animal a type of their creative power, and also an indication of man in embryo. The magicians, indeed, appeared to make frogs come up out of the waters; but we must not understand that to them was given also the power of producing the animals. The effect which they claimed as their own was a simple result of the continuation of the prodigy effected by Moses and Aaron; for that they had no real power is evident, not only from their inability to stop the present plague, the control which even Pharaoh discovered to be solely in the hands of Moses, but also the utter failure of their enchantments in that of lice, where their artifices were incompetent to impose upon the king and his people.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(עפרדּע , cephardēa‛  ; compare Arabic ḍafda‛ ( Exodus 8:2;  Psalm 78:45;  Psalm 105:30 ); βάτραχος , bátrachos ( Revelation 16:13 )): The references in Psalms, as well as in Exodus, are to the plague of flogs. In  Revelation 16:13 we have, "And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs." The word cephardēa‛ probably referred both to frogs and to toads, as does the Arabic ḍafda‛ . In Palestine and Syria Rana esculenta , Bufo viridis and Hyla arborea are common. According to Mr. Michael J. Nicoll, assistant director of the Zoölogical Gardens at Gı̂zah , near Cairo, the commonest Egyptian species are Rana mascariensis and Bufo regularis . Rana esculenta , Bufo viridis and Bufo vittatus are also found, but are much less common.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Frog'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/f/frog.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.