Exodus 1:13-14

1:13 and they ¹  made the Israelites serve rigorously. ²  1:14 They made their lives bitter ³  by ⁴  hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service ⁵  in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous. ⁶ 

Exodus 3:7

3:7 The Lord said, “I have surely seen ⁷  the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. ⁸ 

Exodus 20:2

20:2 “I, ⁹  the Lord, am your God, ¹⁰  who brought you ¹¹  from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ¹² 

Psalms 78:43-51

78:43 when he performed his awesome deeds ¹³  in Egypt,

and his acts of judgment ¹⁴  in the region of Zoan.

78:44 He turned their rivers into blood,

and they could not drink from their streams.

78:45 He sent swarms of biting insects against them, ¹⁵ 

as well as frogs that overran their land. ¹⁶ 

78:46 He gave their crops to the grasshopper,

the fruit of their labor to the locust.

78:47 He destroyed their vines with hail,

and their sycamore-fig trees with driving rain.

78:48 He rained hail down on their cattle, ¹⁷ 

and hurled lightning bolts down on their livestock. ¹⁸ 

78:49 His raging anger lashed out against them, ¹⁹ 

He sent fury, rage, and trouble

as messengers who bring disaster. ²⁰ 

78:50 He sent his anger in full force; ²¹ 

he did not spare them from death;

he handed their lives over to destruction. ²² 

78:51 He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,

the firstfruits of their reproductive power ²³  in the tents of Ham.

[1:13]  ¹ tn Heb “the Egyptians.” For stylistic reasons this has been replaced by the pronoun “they” in the translation.

[1:13]  ² tn Heb “with rigor, oppression.”

[1:14]  ³ sn The verb מָרַר (marar) anticipates the introduction of the theme of bitterness in the instructions for the Passover.

[1:14]  ⁴ tn The preposition bet (ב) in this verse has the instrumental use: “by means of” (see GKC 380 §119.o).

[1:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “and in all service.”

[1:14]  ⁶ tn The line could be more literally translated, “All their service in which they served them [was] with rigor.” This takes the referent of בָּהֶם (bahem) to be the Egyptians. The pronoun may also resume the reference to the kinds of service and so not be needed in English: “All their service in which they served [was] with rigor.”

[3:7]  ⁷ tn The use of the infinitive absolute with the perfect tense intensifies the statement: I have surely seen – there is no doubt that I have seen and will do something about it.

[3:7]  ⁸ sn Two new words are introduced now to the report of suffering: “affliction” and “pain/suffering.” These add to the dimension of the oppression of God’s people.

[20:2]  ⁹ sn The revelation of Yahweh here begins with the personal pronoun. “I” – a person, a living personality, not an object or a mere thought. This enabled him to address “you” – Israel, and all his people, making the binding stipulations for them to conform to his will (B. Jacob, Exodus, 544).

[20:2]  ¹⁰ tn Most English translations have “I am Yahweh your God.” But the preceding chapters have again and again demonstrated how he made himself known to them. Now, the emphasis is on “I am your God” – and what that would mean in their lives.

[20:2]  ¹¹ tn The suffix on the verb is second masculine singular. It is this person that will be used throughout the commandments for the whole nation. God addresses them all as his people, but he addresses them individually for their obedience. The masculine form is not, thereby, intended to exclude women.

[20:2]  ¹² tn Heb “the house of slaves” meaning “the land of slavery.”

[78:43]  ¹³ tn Or “signs” (see Ps 65:8).

[78:43]  ¹⁴ tn Or “portents, omens” (see Ps 71:7). The Egyptian plagues are referred to here (see vv. 44-51).

[78:45]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he sent an insect swarm against them and it devoured them.”

[78:45]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and a swarm of frogs and it destroyed them.”

[78:48]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he turned over to the hail their cattle.”

[78:48]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and their livestock to the flames.” “Flames” here refer to the lightning bolts that accompanied the storm.

[78:49]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he sent against them the rage of his anger.” The phrase “rage of his anger” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[78:49]  ²⁰ tn Heb “fury and indignation and trouble, a sending of messengers of disaster.”

[78:50]  ²¹ tn Heb “he leveled a path for his anger.” There were no obstacles to impede its progress; it moved swiftly and destructively.

[78:50]  ²² tn Or perhaps “[the] plague.”

[78:51]  ²³ tn Heb “the beginning of strength.” If retained, the plural form אוֹנִים (’onim, “strength”) probably indicates degree (“great strength”), but many ancient witnesses read “their strength,” which presupposes an emendation to אֹנָם (’onam; singular form of the noun with third masculine plural pronominal suffix).