2 Chronicles 5:7

5:7 The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its assigned ¹  place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the most holy place under the wings of the cherubs.

2 Chronicles 5:10

5:10 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets Moses had placed there in Horeb. ²  (It was there that ³  the Lord made an agreement with the Israelites after he brought them out of the land of Egypt.)

Exodus 40:20

40:20 He took the testimony and put it in the ark, attached the poles to the ark, and then put the atonement lid on the ark.

Exodus 40:1

Setting Up the Sanctuary

40:1 ⁴ Then the Lord spoke to Moses: ⁵ 

Exodus 8:9

8:9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “You may have the honor over me ⁶  – when shall I pray for you, your servants, and your people, for the frogs to be removed ⁷  from you and your houses, so that ⁸  they will be left ⁹  only in the Nile?”

Exodus 8:21

8:21 If you do not release ¹⁰  my people, then I am going to send ¹¹  swarms of flies ¹²  on you and on your servants and on your people and in your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies, and even the ground they stand on. ¹³ 

Hebrews 9:4

9:4 It contained the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered entirely with gold. In this ark ¹⁴  were the golden urn containing the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

¹ tn The word “assigned” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

² sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (cf. Exod 3:1).

³ tn Heb “in Horeb where.”

⁴ sn All of Exod 39:32-40:38 could be taken as a unit. The first section (39:32-43) shows that the Israelites had carefully and accurately completed the preparation and brought everything they had made to Moses: The work of the Lord builds on the faithful obedience of the people. In the second section are the instruction and the implementation (40:1-33): The work of the Lord progresses through the unifying of the work. The last part (40:34-38) may take the most attention: When the work was completed, the glory filled the tabernacle: By his glorious presence, the Lord blesses and directs his people in their worship.

⁵ tn Heb “and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying.”

⁶ tn The expression הִתְפָּאֵר עָלַי (hitpa’er ’alay) is problematic. The verb would be simply translated “honor yourself” or “deck yourself with honor.” It can be used in the bad sense of self-exaltation. But here it seems to mean “have the honor or advantage over me” in choosing when to remove the frogs. The LXX has “appoint for me.” Moses is doing more than extending a courtesy to Pharaoh; he is giving him the upper hand in choosing the time. But it is also a test, for if Pharaoh picked the time it would appear less likely that Moses was manipulating things. As U. Cassuto puts it, Moses is saying “my trust in God is so strong you may have the honor of choosing the time” (Exodus, 103).

⁷ tn Or “destroyed”; Heb “to cut off the frogs.”

⁸ tn The phrase “so that” is implied.

⁹ tn Or “survive, remain.”

¹⁰ tn The construction uses the predicator of nonexistence – אֵין (’en, “there is not”) – with a pronominal suffix prior to the Piel participle. The suffix becomes the subject of the clause. Heb “but if there is not you releasing.”

¹¹ tn Here again is the futur instans use of the participle, now Qal with the meaning “send”: הִנְנִי מַשְׁלִיחַ (hinni mashliakh, “here I am sending”).

¹² tn The word עָרֹב (’arov) means “a mix” or “swarm.” It seems that some irritating kind of flying insect is involved. Ps 78:45 says that the Egyptians were eaten or devoured by them. Various suggestions have been made over the years: (1) it could refer to beasts or reptiles; (2) the Greek took it as the dog-fly, a vicious blood-sucking gadfly, more common in the spring than in the fall; (3) the ordinary house fly, which is a symbol of Egypt in Isa 7:18 (Hebrew זְבוּב, zÿvuv); and (4) the beetle, which gnaws and bites plants, animals, and materials. The fly probably fits the details of this passage best; the plague would have greatly intensified a problem with flies that already existed.

¹³ tn Or perhaps “the land where they are” (cf. NRSV “the land where they live”).

¹⁴ tn Grk “in which”; in the translation the referent (the ark) has been specified for clarity.