1:22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “All sons 5 that are born you must throw 6 into the river, but all daughters you may let live.” 7
19:5 The water of the sea will be dried up,
and the river will dry up and be empty. 14
“‘Look, I am against 15 you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
the great monster 16 lying in the midst of its waterways,
who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.” 17
Because he said, “The Nile is mine and I made it,”
1 tn Heb “and he fled.”
2 tn Heb “he arose and crossed.” The first verb emphasizes that he wasted no time in getting across.
3 tn Heb “the river”; the referent (the Euphrates) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “he set his face.”
5 tn The substantive כֹּל (kol) followed by the article stresses the entirety – “all sons” or “all daughters” – even though the nouns are singular in Hebrew (see GKC 411 §127.b).
6 tn The form includes a pronominal suffix that reiterates the object of the verb: “every son…you will throw it.”
7 tn The first imperfect has the force of a definite order, but the second, concerning the girls, could also have the nuance of permission, which may fit better. Pharaoh is simply allowing the girls to live.
8 tn Heb “and it will be if.”
9 tn Heb “listen to your voice.”
10 tn The verb form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive; it functions then as the equivalent of the imperfect tense – here as an imperfect of instruction.
11 sn This is a powerful sign, for the Nile was always known as the source of life in Egypt, but now it will become the evidence of death. So the three signs were alike, each consisting of life and death. They would clearly anticipate the struggle with Egypt through the plagues. The point is clear that in the face of the possibility that people might not believe, the servants of God must offer clear proof of the power of God as they deliver the message of God. The rest is up to God.
12 tn Heb “you are going there to possess it”; NASB “into which you are about to cross to possess it”; NRSV “that you are crossing over to occupy.”
13 tn Heb “with your foot” (so NASB, NLT). There is a two-fold significance to this phrase. First, Egypt had no rain so water supply depended on human efforts at irrigation. Second, the Nile was the source of irrigation waters but those waters sometimes had to be pumped into fields and gardens by foot-power, perhaps the kind of machinery (Arabic shaduf) still used by Egyptian farmers (see C. Aldred, The Egyptians, 181). Nevertheless, the translation uses “by hand,” since that expression is the more common English idiom for an activity performed by manual labor.
14 tn Heb “will dry up and be dry.” Two synonyms are joined for emphasis.
15 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.
16 tn Heb “jackals,” but many medieval Hebrew
17 sn In Egyptian theology Pharaoh owned and controlled the Nile. See J. D. Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament, 240-44.