And when they confronted this greatness, they deserved punishment. This is indicated by His saying: ﴿So We sent upon them﴾ meaning: a punishment for them, as the letter of elevation implies. ﴿The flood﴾ means: thunder, lightning, and fire along with the heavy rain and hail that kills cattle and less than that, and the darkness and the strong wind that overwhelmed their land and surrounded it. And since that might have caused the land to become fertile, He informed that He sent what would ruin that, saying: ﴿And the locust﴾.

And since the locust might fly and leave something behind, He informed about what would remain stuck to the ground until nothing is left, saying: ﴿And the lice﴾. It is said in the dictionary: lice are like sugar: small insects and creatures that have no wings, and they are smaller than locusts or something small with a red wing, and something that resembles lice with a foul smell or small creatures like ticks, meaning the tick. Al-Bukhari said in his Sahih regarding the Children of Israel: lice are the small lice that resemble small lice.

And when there might have been something stored with them that was not reached by that, He informed about what would fall into food and ruin it or diminish it, saying: ﴿And the frogs﴾, for they overwhelmed all their places, and they would fall into their food, and they might leap into their mouths when they opened them to eat.

And when what harms the food was completed, He followed it with what spoiled the drink, saying: ﴿And the blood﴾, for all their waters turned into foul blood, and blood spread over the trees, stones, and all the land concerning the Egyptians. As for the Children of Israel, they were safe from all of that.

And when He, the Exalted, mentioned these great signs, He emphasized their greatness by mentioning their state, saying: ﴿Signs﴾ meaning: great signs of His truthfulness. ﴿Detailed﴾ means: one follows another, and between each one and its sister is a time in which they are tested, even though each one is distinctly different from its sister in utmost clarity, and likewise the knowledge that they are from the signs of Allah that none can accomplish but Him.

And since it is a reality that faith results from it when the heart is sound, it led to His saying: ﴿So they were arrogant﴾, clarifying that what prevented them from faith was the disease of the heart with arrogance and tyranny. ﴿And they were a criminal people﴾ meaning: in their nature, they cut off what ought to be connected while they were strong in what they attempted.