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.
The land was corrupted - or laid waste; because this prodigious swarm of flies not only afflicted the people by their sharp and inflammatory stings, but by the deposit of innumerable ova devoured the land (Psalms 78:45).