(3) “Upon you, upon your people, and upon all your servants, the frogs will ascend” (Exodus 7:29).
“Upon you, upon your people” – Pharaoh began with the transgression first, as it is stated: “He said to His people…” (Exodus 1:9), and the plague began with him first, as it is stated: “Upon you,” then “upon your people,” and then “and upon all your servants.” Rabbi Aḥa said: “Upon you” – this is an indication that he would drink water and one drop would descend onto his heart and would become a frog, and it would split there.9It would split there into many frogs. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Every place where there was soil and a drop of water, a frog would be created there.
Ḥizkiya son of Rabbi said: If it were in accordance with this opinion, the houses of the prominent people, which were made of marble and tiles, would not have been afflicted. Rather, it teaches that a frog would ascend from the depths and say to the marble: ‘Make room for me so I can ascend and perform the will of my Creator.’ The marble would split, and [the frog] would [then] ascend and remove their genitals and neuter them, as it is stated: “And frogs that destroyed them [vatashḥitem]” (Psalms 78:45), as it is stated: “Because their corruption [moshḥatam] is in them” (Leviticus 22:25).10This verse is written in the context of the prohibition to bring a castrated animal as an offering.

(6) “Moses and Aaron emerged from Pharaoh; and Moses cried to the Lord regarding the frogs that He had brought upon Pharaoh” (Exodus 8:8).
“Moses…emerged…and…cried to the Lord regarding the frogs” – our Rabbis, of blessed memory, said: It was not just the destruction that the frogs caused the Egyptians, but the sound of the frogs was harsher for them than the physical damage, as they would enter their bodies and scream inside them, as it is stated: “Regarding [al devar] the frogs that He had brought upon Pharaoh” – regarding the speech [al dibur] of the frogs.

(1) מן הבתים מן החצרות, “from the houses and subsequently from the courtyards,” but not the frogs that had ventured into the ovens and kneading bowls. Seeing that these frogs had risked their lives by performing such a dangerous mission on behalf of G-d, they were allowed to remain alive.