Irrigation canals branching off from the river Nile. (Ex 7:19; 8:5; Ps 78:44) The Hebrew word for Nile canals (yeʼo·rimʹ) is the plural form of yeʼorʹ (the river Nile). The Egyptian economy was completely dependent upon the Nile, which provided water for irrigation in a virtually rainless land and regularly flooded the land, leaving behind a deposit of rich silt. The food supply of the nation depended on this arrangement. Thus the turning of these waters into blood resulted in national calamity, even as the drying up of the Nile canals would forebode disaster.​—Isa 19:6; see NILE.