Exodus 9:4

9:4 But the Lord will distinguish ¹  between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing ²  will die of all that the Israelites have.”’” ³ 

Exodus 9:6

9:6 And the Lord did this ⁴  on the next day; ⁵  all ⁶  the livestock of the Egyptians ⁷  died, but of the Israelites’ livestock not one died.

Exodus 9:26

9:26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was there no hail.

Exodus 10:23

10:23 No one ⁸  could see ⁹  another person, and no one could rise from his place for three days. But the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

Exodus 11:6-7

11:6 There will be a great cry throughout the whole land of Egypt, such as there has never been, ¹⁰  nor ever will be again. ¹¹  11:7 But against any of the Israelites not even a dog will bark ¹²  against either people or animals, ¹³  so that you may know that the Lord distinguishes ¹⁴  between Egypt and Israel.’

Exodus 12:13

12:13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see ¹⁵  the blood I will pass over you, ¹⁶  and this plague ¹⁷  will not fall on you to destroy you ¹⁸  when I attack ¹⁹  the land of Egypt. ²⁰ 

Malachi 3:18

3:18 Then once more you will see that I make a distinction between ²¹  the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not.

¹ tn The verb פָּלָה (palah) in Hiphil means “to set apart, make separate, make distinct.” See also Exod 8:22 (18 HT); 11:7; 33:16.

² tn There is a wordplay in this section. A pestilence – דֶּבֶר (dever) – will fall on Egypt’s cattle, but no thing – דָּבָר (davar) – belonging to Israel would die. It was perhaps for this reason that the verb was changed in v. 1 from “say” to “speak” (דִּבֶּר, dibber). See U. Cassuto, Exodus, 111.

³ tn The lamed preposition indicates possession: “all that was to the Israelites” means “all that the Israelites had.”

⁴ tn Heb “this thing.”

⁵ tn Heb “on the morrow.”

⁶ tn The word “all” clearly does not mean “all” in the exclusive sense, because subsequent plagues involve cattle. The word must denote such a large number that whatever was left was insignificant for the economy. It could also be taken to mean “all [kinds of] livestock died.”

⁷ tn Heb “of Egypt.” The place is put by metonymy for the inhabitants.

⁸ tn Heb “a man…his brother.”

⁹ tn The perfect tense in this context requires the somewhat rare classification of a potential perfect.

¹⁰ tn Heb “which like it there has never been.”

¹¹ tn Heb “and like it it will not add.”

¹² tn Or perhaps “growl”; Heb “not a dog will sharpen his tongue.” The expression is unusual, but it must indicate that not only would no harm come to the Israelites, but that no unfriendly threat would come against them either – not even so much as a dog barking. It is possible this is to be related to the watchdog (see F. C. Fensham, “Remarks on Keret 114^b – 136^a,” JNSL 11 [1983]: 75).

¹³ tn Heb “against man or beast.”

¹⁴ tn The verb פָּלָה (palah) in Hiphil means “to set apart, make separate, make distinct.” See also Exod 8:22 (18 HT); 9:4; 33:16.

¹⁵ tn Both of the verbs for seeing and passing over are perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutives: וּפָסַחְתִּי…וְרָאִיתִי (vÿra’iti...ufasakhti); the first of these parallel verb forms is subordinated to the second as a temporal clause. See Gesenius’s description of perfect consecutives in the protasis and apodosis (GKC 494 §159.g).

¹⁶ tn The meaning of the verb is supplied in part from the near context of seeing the sign and omitting to destroy, as well as the verb at the start of verse 12 “pass through, by, over.” Isa 31:5 says, “Just as birds hover over a nest, so the Lord who commands armies will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver it; as he passes over he will rescue it.” The word does not occur enough times to enable one to delineate a clear meaning. It is probably not the same word as “to limp” found in 1 Kgs 18:21, 26, unless there is a highly developed category of meaning there.

¹⁷ tn The word “plague” (נֶגֶף, negef) is literally “a blow” or “a striking.” It usually describes a calamity or affliction given to those who have aroused God’s anger, as in Exod 30:12; Num 8:19; 16:46, 47; Josh 22:17 (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 92-93).

¹⁸ tn Heb “for destruction.” The form מַשְׁחִית (mashkhit) is the Hiphil participle of שָׁחַת (shakhat). The word itself is a harsh term; it was used to describe Yahweh’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 13:10).

¹⁹ tn בְּהַכֹּתִי (bÿhakkoti) is the Hiphil infinitive construct from נָכָה (nakhah), with a preposition prefixed and a pronominal suffix added to serve as the subjective genitive – the subject of this temporal clause. It is also used in 12:12.

²⁰ sn For additional discussions, see W. H. Elder, “The Passover,” RevExp 74 (1977): 511-22; E. Nutz, “The Passover,” BV 12 (1978): 23-28; H. M. Kamsler, “The Blood Covenant in the Bible,” Dor le Dor 6 (1977): 94-98; A. Rodriguez, Substitution in the Hebrew Cultus; B. Ramm, “The Theology of the Book of Exodus: A Reflection on Exodus 12:12,” SwJT 20 (1977): 59-68; and M. Gilula, “The Smiting of the First-Born: An Egyptian Myth?” TA 4 (1977): 94-85.

²¹ tn Heb “you will see between.” Cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT “see the difference.”