Exodus 10:15

10:15 They covered ¹  the surface ²  of all the ground, so that the ground became dark with them, ³  and they ate all the vegetation of the ground and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green remained on the trees or on anything that grew in the fields throughout the whole land of Egypt.

Exodus 15:12

15:12 You stretched out your right hand,

the earth swallowed them. ⁴ 

Exodus 34:8

34:8 Moses quickly bowed ⁵  to the ground and worshiped

¹ tn Heb “and they covered.”

² tn Heb “eye,” an unusual expression (see v. 5; Num 22:5, 11).

³ tn The verb is וַתֶּחְשַׁךְ (vattekhshakh, “and it became dark”). The idea is that the ground had the color of the swarms of locusts that covered it.

⁴ tn The verb is the prefixed conjugation, the preterite without the vav consecutive. The subject, the “earth,” must be inclusive of the sea, or it may indicate the grave or Sheol; the sea drowned them. Some scholars wish to see this as a reference to Dathan and Abiram, and therefore evidence of a later addition or compilation. It fits this passage well, however.

⁷ tn The first two verbs form a hendiadys: “he hurried…he bowed,” meaning “he quickly bowed down.”