Exodus 14:16-17

14:16 And as for you, ¹  lift up your staff and extend your hand toward the sea and divide it, so that ²  the Israelites may go through the middle of the sea on dry ground. 14:17 And as for me, I am going to harden ³  the hearts of the Egyptians so that ⁴  they will come after them, that I may be honored ⁵  because ⁶  of Pharaoh and his army and his chariots and his horsemen.

¹ tn The conjunction plus pronoun (“and you”) is emphatic – “and as for you” – before the imperative “lift up.” In contrast, v. 17 begins with “and as for me, I….”

² tn The imperfect (or jussive) with the vav (ו) is sequential, coming after the series of imperatives instructing Moses to divide the sea; the form then gives the purpose (or result) of the activity – “that they may go.”

³ tn הִנְנִי (hinni) before the participle gives it the force of a futur instans participle, meaning “I am about to harden” or “I am going to harden” their heart.

⁴ tn The form again is the imperfect tense with vav (ו) to express the purpose or the result of the hardening. The repetition of the verb translated “come” is interesting: Moses is to divide the sea in order that the people may cross, but God will harden the Egyptians’ hearts in order that they may follow.

⁵ tn For the comments on this verb see the discussion in v. 4. God would get glory by defeating Egypt.

⁶ tn Or “I will get glory over.”